Bicycle Sharing System

A bicycle sharing system, also known as bikesharing, is a service in which bicycles are made available for shared use to individuals who do not own them. Bicycle sharing systems can be divided into two general categories: "Community Bike programs" organized mostly by local community groups or non-profit organizations; and "Smart Bike programs" implemented by government agencies, sometimes in a public-private partnership. The central concept of these systems is to provide free or affordable access to bicycles for short-distance trips in an urban area as an alternative to motorized public transportation or private vehicles, thereby reducing traffic congestion, noise, and air pollution. Bicycle sharing systems have also been cited as a way to solve the "last mile" problem and connect users to public transit networks.

Public bike sharing programs address some of the primary disadvantages to bicycle ownership, including loss from theft or vandalism, lack of parking or storage, and maintenance requirements. However, by limiting the number of places where bicycles can be rented or returned, the service itself essentially becomes a form of public transit, and is therefore less convenient than a privately-owned bicycle capable of point-to-point transportation. Government-run bicycle sharing programs can also prove costly to the public unless subsidised by commercial interests, typically in the form of advertising on stations or the bicycles themselves.

Bike sharing systems have undergone changes which can be categorized into three key phases, or generations. These include the first generation, called white bikes (or free bikes); the second generation of coin-deposit systems; and the third generation, or information technology (IT) based systems. Recent technological and operational improvements are also paving the way for a fourth generation, known as the demand-responsive, multimodal system.

As of May 2011 there were around 136 bikesharing programs in 165 cities around the world, made of an estimated fleet of 237,000 bicycles. Launched in 2008, the Hangzhou Public Bicycle program in China is the largest bicycle sharing system in the world, with around 61,000 bicycles and over 2,400 stations; and it is followed by the Vélib' in Paris, which encompasses around 20,000 bicycles and 1,450 bicycle stations. The countries with the most systems are France (29), Spain (25), China (19), Italy (19), and Germany (5).