My recent bike race in Montreal

While in Montreal recently I decided to give the Bixi bicycle sharing a try. Somehow I ended up in a race and included some video.

Bike sharing is gaining popularity all over the world. Paris was one of the first adopters of the system and they have over 20,000 bikes in the program. They believe that no bike station should be more than 300-500 meters apart or people won't use the network. This has led to a traffic reduction of over 5%.

Bike sharing involves picking up a bike at any bike station and for a small fee you may take the bike to your destination and drop it off at another station. It is designed mainly for intercity or close in cities. The Bixi prototype in Montreal (which has 5000 bikes and 400 stations) has been adopted, emulated or modeled in Washington DC, Denver, Minneapolis, Boston and most recently in San Antonio, TX.

The US based systems have been highly financed by companies such as Blue Cross Blue Shield and Humana who recognize the health benefits. The federal stimulus funds have also played a part in funding due to the environmental benefits of traffic reduction.

So....do you think such a system would work in Lakewood, Downtown & Uptown Dallas? We already have a great trail system that could easily be incorporated into the program.

Interesting Bike Share Article