Thursday, July 12, 2012

Global phenomenon comes to Charlotte

We've finally posted online at PlanCharlotte.org a meaty piece about bike-sharing, not just Charlotte's newly launched program (ride for free all weekend!) but about the incredible expansion of bike-share programs around the country and the world. Read it here: "Charlotte joins global bike phenomenon."

“Every city on the map is thinking about this,” quips John Cock of Davidson, with Alta Planning + Design.

In fact, one reason the article didn't get posted until 5:30 or so is that the list of cities with bike-share programs kept expanding as we did more research. And not just world capitals (London, Paris) or granola-crunching cities (amazingly, Portland, Ore., is planning a new program but hasn't launched it yet).  We mean Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Des Moines and Omaha. First one in the Carolinas was in wait for it Spartanburg. Chattanooga launches in the near future. Memphis and Birmingham, Ala., are talking about it. In a word, wow.

Below is a phalanx of  bicycles at a station in the London bike-share program, sponsored (as you can see) by Barclays.