Published by
Shkumbin Hasani
Fostering bike share adoption in other cities
In just a few years Paris has built the largest bike-sharing system in the west. Parisians love their Vélib', with its more than 20,000 rental bikes distributed between 1,800 stations, some 300 meters apart. It is a cornerstone of a plan that has already reduced car traffic in the city by 20%. The system has also spread across the world like wildfire to hundreds of cities, indicating an international breakthrough for urban bike sharing.
Design & Implementation
Last update: October 05, 2023
Challenge
lack of cycling options as part of multi-modal strategy
Description
Bike sharing and bicycle rental have their roots in the Dutch counter-culture of the sixties, and have since then evolved with many variations (see also Amsterdam). Due to problems of vandalism and theft, their success was limited. The 1990s saw the rise of “smart systems” with electronic, camera-monitored locks and personal cards. Copenhagen, and subsequently other cities, built up large, publicly financed systems for borrowing with low costs and specially designed bikes.
SDGs
