Pittsburgh Post-Gazette covers the Bike Share Demo in Market Square

Thursday, June 09, 2011

By Brian O’Neill, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

On a vacation in Montreal last summer, I encountered a system of some 3,000 bicycles scattered among 300 self-serve stations.

A swipe of a credit card allowed a free 30-minute ride with a drop-off anywhere else one could find another bike rental port. Fees kick in if one rides longer, but it’s wildly popular.

Pittsburgh would never go from zero to 3,000 like that, but a Wisconsin company, B-cycle, will be in Market Square from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. today to demonstrate how bike-sharing could begin here.

Bike Pittsburgh and the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership will follow that up with a lunch-and-learn Friday to pique corporate, foundation and government interest.

As for how noncyclists will feel about, say, 250 cyclists suddenly hitting the streets at lunch hour, Mr. Bricker responds, “Would they prefer 250 more cars driving around Downtown?”

Chicago, Washington, Denver, Omaha, Neb., and Des Moines, Iowa, are among the cities that either have or will have bike-sharing systems by summer’s end. So why not us?

There’s no loose change on Grant Street or in Harrisburg, which means the private sector would almost certainly have to provide the capital, but the demand seems ripe.

Census data indicate the percentage of city commuters who bike to work has tripled in the past 10 years. That’s still only 1.4 percent of the city’s commuters, but that’s enough to put us 15th among the 60 largest American cities.

Combine biking and walking, and we’re up to 13.8 percent of the city’s commuters, second only to Boston. (Hey, Chicago, put that in your chain and oil it.) That percentage drops to 5 percent countywide, but some suburban commuters might cycle on their lunch hours if a bike were available.

---

Not a member of BikePGH? Join today! We need you to add your voice! Bike Pittsburgh works to protect cyclist’s rights and promote the vision of making Pittsburgh a safer and more enjoyable place to live and to ride. For more info, check out: www.bike-pgh.org/membership