Bike share programs set to launch, share data (with related video)

As the weather warms up this spring and summer, cyclists in some cities will find it easier to make their commute or run errands via bike. At the same time, cities with bike share programs are beginning to share data and discover better ways to use it.

New York’s bike share program, which will be run by Alta Bicycle Share, is set to launch this summer. It will include 10,000 bikes at 600 stations. Riders can pay by trip or purchase an annual membership that will cost $100 and allow unlimited rides shorter than 30 minutes.

In December, the New York City Department of Transportation (NYC DOT) announced that commuter biking has doubled in the past four years and the agency has added 260 miles of bike lanes during that same period. It also has installed 175 parking meter bike racks to secure bikes to former parking meter poles and plans to add another 6,000 at meters throughout the city.

New York Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan just announced that the NYC DOT will use the data — such as exact bike routes traveled — from GPS units installed on the bikes for future bike-related planning.

The Capital Bikeshare program that serves cyclists in Washington D.C., and Arlington County, Va., recently released data from more than 1 million trips taken since the fourth quarter of 2010.  The data shows which stations riders are traveling between, duration of the trip, and start and end times. Capital Bikeshare is currently the only bike sharing system in North America to make the data public, according to Alta Bicycle Share, which also works with Capital Bikeshare.

Oklahoma City will join New York in launching a bike share program this year. Spokies is slated to begin this spring and will offer riders 95 bikes located a six stations throughout downtown. The program is being funded by a federal grant. 

To learn more about how the New York bikeshare program will work, view the video below.