Bike share program launches in Chicago
CHICAGO (AP) - Those walking through Daley Plaza on Friday saw what two companies hope will soon be a fixture on Chicago sidewalks - a gray bike stand full of matching gray bicycles that people can rent by the hour and drop off at other spots around the city.
B-cycle, a national bicycle sharing company, and its local business partner Bike And Roll launched a demonstration bike share program downtown, starting with 100 bikes at six locations where bikers can pick up a rental, including Buckingham Fountain, McCormick Place, and the Museum Campus.
Bikes cost $10 per hour to rent, without membership. Membership costs $35 a month and includes a free hour for each use. The program will run until October and reopen next April, if successful.
"We want stations in all the neighborhoods to create a real, true bicycle network," Bike And Roll owner Josh Squire said.
Bike share programs are popular in Europe and have taken a hold in U.S. cities including Washington, Minneapolis, and Denver. B-cycle President Bob Burns said the programs can decrease automobile traffic and attract tourists.
Squire said the companies plan to open more kiosks around Chicago to help strengthen the city's biking culture. They're approaching businesses, hotels, universities, and condos about adding stations on their property, Squire said.
Several passers-by Friday said they were excited about the possibilities of the program but were put off by the costs.
"If they want it to catch on, they're going to have to lower the price," said D. McCollum, a 45-year-old Chicago resident. "If you don't have a car and use the bus a lot, you're used to paying one fee a month for unlimited rides."
Rates in B-cycle's other city, Denver, are cheaper because of public funding. But Chicago doesn't plan to fund B-cycle right now, city Department of Transportation spokesman Brian Steele said. I-GO, a car share service, can be partially funded by the city because it's a nonprofit. B-cycle is for profit, which could make getting funding more complicated, he said.
But a city-funded bike share is not out of the question. CDOT has been seeking to start one for two years, and after seeing how B-cycle is received, it might launch it's own version, Steele said.
"We hope (B-cycle) will demonstrate that there is a demand for this type of bike sharing service," he said.
Squire said he thinks the high price of parking cars and the free hour for members will attract bicyclists. In the first two hours of business Friday, about 50 people bought memberships online, a Bike And Roll marketing director said. It was overcast in Chicago Friday morning, but people were already renting bikes out, he said.
Brian Hopkins, President of the Streeterville Organization of Active Residents, said he plans to promote B-cycle to all the condos in his area, which already houses two kiosks. The density of people and the high cost of parking in the downtown neighborhood makes other forms of transportation attractive, he said. His own condo has 460 units but only 80 parking spaces, and spaces cost $250 a month to rent.
"(Bike rental) is a good alternative to a taxi cab or the CTA, which is kind of slow," Hopkins said not long after he hopped off a bike for a test ride.
The Velib bike share in Paris faces problems of vandalism and theft, a concern Squire brushed off. Bike And Roll has been renting bikes for 17 years, and Squire said he sees theft as the cost of doing business.
Credit cards are linked to the names of members and will get charged if a bike disappears. Plus, the gray B-cycle bikes look unique with their sturdy, square-like frame, so Squire said police will eventually be able to tell when one shows up where it's not supposed to.
"Is it 100 percent fail proof? No," Squire said. "But most people are honest."
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
