Bike sharing systems cover a certain geographic area with bike stations/docks - locations where bikes are available for the public to rent. The most common bike sharing systems allow individuals to either rent a bike for a single trip, or to purchase a monthly/annual subscription pass. With a monthly/annual pass, subscribers can typically take out a bike as often as they wish, as long as they return it within a certain period of time (often within 30 minutes). Additional minutes/hours are often charged extra. Bikes can typically be returned at any station, irrespective of where the bike was rented. Especially in China, "dockless" bike sharing systems have been implemented: bikes can be parked at any location and are located and unlocked by users via mobile phone applications.
Bike sharing systems may be provided by public authorities or private companies. Hybrid solutions also exist - for example, a popular solution is to contract a private entity to provide a bike sharing program to a jurisdiction in exchange for the right to use public space to display advertisements, e.g. on billboards, bus shelters, and kiosks, and on the bikes.
As of December 2016, roughly 1 000 cities worldwide had a bike sharing scheme in operation, with a significant share in Europe.
Electric bike sharing schemes have also been introduced, these bikes allow people to travel farther at a lower physical cost. The demand patterns related to these vehicles can therefore be different.
CO2 reductions from bike sharing systems come from the replacement of trips formerly made by motorised vehicles. The values differ in the literature, especially on how they are measured.
In general, every car km replaced by bike is equivalent to a reduction of 0.185 kg of CO2. Bike sharing replaces car trips with a different rate in different cities. Bike share users report to have decreased their car use in a range from 0% to almost 50%.
The average reported CO2 reduction has been reported as very small or close to 1%. Some papers report that more than 80% of trips are already non-motorised or public transport users.
There are costs related with the installation, operation, and maintenance of a bike sharing system.
Capital cost estimates range between USD 3 000 and USD 4 500 per bike, and annual operating/maintenance costs between USD 1 200 and USD 2 000. Also, costs for the use of public space, maintenance of the bikes/stations and personnel costs for the operation of the service need to be considered. In return, revenues can be generated by charging bike users for the service and by selling advertising space on the bikes/at the stations, on web or phone applications. In case private organisations are involved in the provision of bike sharing schemes, costs for public authorities can be limited (or entirely avoided).
Bike sharing schemes can
• Reduce congestion and thereby improve air quality.
• Increase accessibility in the city (users have greater access to places that are beyond their reach on foot).
• Increase the reach and mode share of transit (a critical gap between a transit stop and the final destination can be filled).
• Improve the image of cycling and thereby increase overall mode share of cycling.
• Improve the health of the residents.
• Improve a city’s image and branding.
Free-floating bike sharing systems must be appropriately regulated to avoid the volume of bicycles, abandoned or illegally parked, becoming a nuisance.
Dockless systems can interfere with pedestrian space if return of bikes to authorised spots or dedicated spots is not appropriately managed.
If bike infrastructure is not adequate to the travel pattern of bike users, the risk of (fatal) accidents increases considerably, especially for users unfamiliar with local conditions, i.e. tourists.
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