Just reported on Wired.com is a new program in Lyon, France that may be of interest here in Portland (photo on left). This well-designed and high tech rent-a-bike system seems to be a major improvement on the old “Yellow Bike” program. It simply requires a credit card to “check out” a bike. The fee is $1.20 per hour and the first :30 minutes are free.
So far the system is doing quite well:
In just three months, the program has signed up 15,000 subscribers who take 4,000 trips a day and travel over 24,800 miles a week on 2,000 public bikes at 150 bike stations.
Several other cities (including Amsterdam) are interested in this new system and have already sent delegations to check it out. So…which lucky city employee is going to fly to Lyon?