From Governing magazine:
As New York City debuts its new bike-share program -- a massive undertaking that will eventually include 10,000 bikes -- it's worth taking a look across the Hudson River at Hoboken, N.J. where a small-scale pilot involving just 50 bicycles could offer insight into a new way cities can encourage bicycling.
As it stands, most American bike-share programs operate basically the same way. Bicycles lock into docking stations throughout the city that residents and visitors alike can borrow by swiping a credit card at an electronic kiosks to release them. The bikes can be returned to any docking station in the city.
But the new Hoboken program -- a six-month pilot starts Saturday -- eliminates the need for docking stations. Instead, the bikes have a built-in "smart lock." Cyclists can park their bikes wherever they can lock them up, eliminating the need for docks. Customers find the bikes by using a smart phone app that tracks their location via on-board GPS, and when they want to use one, they enter a numeric PIN to release the lock.
The system has three key advantages, says Chris Wogas, president of Bike and Roll New York City, which will operate the Hoboken pilot. (Wogas' company bid unsuccessfully for the bike share contract in New York).
The up-front infrastructure costs are lower, since there's no need for docks. The roll-out can happen quickly, since there's minimal infrastructure to install and no lengthy discussions about where to place the docks. And, perhaps most importantly, valuable sidewalk real estate isn't lost to the docks. Indeed, that could be a major selling point: The New York Times recently reported that while New Yorkers were generally enthusiastic about their bike-share system, the racks themselves have been controversial.
