Wednesday, August 12, 2015

Take My Bike, Please: Cycle-sharing Companies Reshape U.S. Cities

Bike sharing services are popping up across America—including in some very unlikely places. But are they making any money?

Tim Ericson was studying in Paris in July of 2007 when the Vélib’ public bike-sharing system was unveiled. Vélib’ lets citizens and tourists check out bikes from electronic docking stations and cruise around the City of Light.
“I don’t own a car, I still don’t own a car,” says Ericson. “So I was fascinated by this concept.”

Ericson would go on to launch CityRyde (now Zagster), one of the first U.S.-based bike share companies, even as others in the U.S. were having similarly eye-opening experiences. Chicago Mayor Richard Daley also
 hopped on a Vélib’, and thousands of riders enjoyed pop-up bike shares at the Democratic and Republican National Conventions in 2008, in Denver and Minneapolis respectively.
Read the rest of the story at Fortune.

No comments:

Post a Comment