Bicing

Erica Barnett writes about Bicing in Barcelona at the WorldChanging website. (This is not new. More than a decade back a friend who spent a few months in Stockholm had told me about a similar facility there. Somehow, Europeans are far ahead of the US when it comes to thinking of new less-harmful to the environment innovations. On the other hand, the US comes up with this frightful monstrosity!)

Once you register with the company (you have to be a resident of Barcelona, and it costs 24 euros) and activate your swipe card, you can use any one of Bicing's 1,500 bikes, which are designed to prevent people from stealing parts, and to be recognizable. The first 30 minutes of every trip are free, and you can return your bike to any Bicing location around the city (there are at least 100)--one key improvement on car-sharing services, which typically require a user to return the car to the location where he or she picked it up. Every half-hour over the initial free half-hour costs 30 eurocents, making Bicing the cheapest public transport system in Barcelona. You can keep any one bike for up to two hours, and you can always return a bike, run your errand, and grab another for no charge. The bikes seem to be very well-maintained, and everyone uses them—old people, little kids, teenagers on cell phones--everyone.

So...Boston suburbs: When are we coming up with some such system?*


* I suppose I could buy a bike...but that would be too easy, no? :)