Most of this has been reported on before, but this is new:
The first half hour is free, then $1.30 for the next 30 minutes, $2.60 the next, and $5.20 every half-hour thereafter, encouraging more frequent usage.
95% of the 20,000 daily bike rentals (that's not a typo) in Lyon are free based on this pricing structure. The impact is even more surprising: Vehicle traffic dropped 4% and overall bicycle use tripled. "It has completely transformed the landscape of Lyon - everywhere you see people on the bikes," said the city's deputy mayor. Paris expects 250,000 trips a day, or 91 million trips a year.
The USA is not Europe...they cant even pave the roads properly in DC or in Montgomery County, MD...most importantly, Americans are PETRIFIED of change and social experimentation...
Posted by: jon | April 29, 2007 at 11:36 PM
these prices seem high. Higher than Flexcar anyway.
Posted by: Richard Layman | May 01, 2007 at 04:26 PM
My flexcar runs $9 an hour and I don't get the first half hour free. I think the idea is to encourage brief uses - not recreation or exercise based riding.
Posted by: washcycle | May 01, 2007 at 04:47 PM