Philadelphia Region Local News

PHILADELPHIA (AP) ― Three centuries after William Penn mapped out its streets for horses and carriages, Philadelphia will soon learn if it has enough brotherly love—and fear of rising gas prices—to fuel what could be the nation's largest bicycle-sharing initiative.

A group of bicycle activists, armed with possible corporate backing, is pushing the city to embark on an ambitious program that would station thousands of bikes at hundreds of kiosks as part of a subscription service that would operate like a car-sharing program.

Bicycle-sharing is thriving in Europe, with a huge program running in Paris, as well as other cities, including Oslo, Norway; Stockholm, Sweden; and Barcelona, Spain.

Some believe the idea could work in the U.S., even though American's travel habits are far from European.

"Americans, or Philadelphians, are screaming bloody murder because they're paying $4 a gallon for gasoline," said Russell Meddin, a Philadelphia bike-sharing advocate. "I don't care what the culture is, when something affects your pocketbook, it totally changes your dynamic."

A group called SmartBike, run by Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings Inc., is about to start the nation's first such pilot program in Washington. That operation will get going with 10 bicycle stations and 120 bikes, compared with the 12,000 bikes in use in Paris.

While they are encouraged by that program, some Philadelphia advocates say the Washington plan will not have enough bikes to make it worthwhile for users.

In order for such a program to succeed, Meddin said, it would need more bikes and more stations so users could get to where they needed to go. He estimated Philadelphia would need 250 to 300 stations and 4,000 to 5,000 bicycles in order for people to find it reliable.

But big questions remain: Would that many people use it? Who would run the operation?

City officials want to gauge how much interest there would be in the program and figure out what the business plan would be, including who would operate it and where the funding would come from.

"Philosophically, the city is supportive," said Rina Cutler, deputy mayor for transportation. "I think there has not been a business model put in front of me which I can yet support."

Cutler said she wants to have more discussions with people in the bicycling community and bicycle shops that could be involved in the program.

But she also wants more information on what kind of costs the city would face.

In Washington, the city will get some of the money from users' subscription fees, as well as some of the advertising revenue that will be used to fund the program, said Martina Schmidt, the director of SmartBike.

The ideal model for any bike-sharing program, she said, is to fund it primarily through revenue from advertising on street furniture and other places.

But at this point, Schmidt said officials don't know exactly how much money will be brought in or how much such a program will cost.

That is a big reason why Philadelphia officials want to know more about how such a program would work. Cutler also said she is keeping a close eye on what is happening in Washington.

Advocates believe there is potential. They say that, with fewer than 1.5 percent of trips in Philadelphia taken by bicycle, there is a big market of non-bike-owners to tap as the numbers on the gas pumps continue to spin.

"As the cost of car ownership and gas continues to go up, more and more people are going to be looking at alternatives to paying all this money to go places in a car," said Alex Doty, executive director of the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia.

But the city would need a lot more information about who would use the program, Cutler said.

Gas-conscious commuters still have other options, including walking, using the city's extensive mass transit system and even just buying their own bikes.

"I do know that there's never been a successful one in the United States," Cutler said of bike-sharing programs. "So I'm assuming there's a reason for that."

Start-up costs for a program in Philadelphia could be about $15 million at the outset, according to one estimate, Doty said. He thinks that could come from advertising on street furniture.

But Cutler said the city isn't sure it wants to make such a commitment and wants to be careful about how much public advertising it has.

Advocates say that once the infrastructure is in place—with the bikes, locking bike stations and computer registration equipment—the system pays for itself whether it is run by a nonprofit or for-profit company.

The program would likely involve a small staff to help maintain the bikes and move them from station to station to keep them evenly distributed.

"It seems like the system is self-sustaining once you've paid for all the capital costs of putting in all the stations and buying all the bikes," Doty said.

But city officials say they want to be proceed cautiously, lest they end up on a downhill ride that ends with a costly crash.

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