Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
2013 is the year when the sharing economy—the recent rediscovery of the economic advantages of mutual cooperation—came to public attention. It was also the year that bike sharing, one of the most tangible symbols of the sharing economy, came of age in America.
•Bike Sharing Prepares to Get its World Rocked •Social Bicycles Brings Sharing to Two Wheels •The two-wheel entrepreneurs: bike culture spawns businesses nationwide •The Pedestrian–Cyclist Armistice
Politicians, lobbyists, and tourists alike can ride bicycles along a specially marked lane between the White House and the U.S. Capitol, part of the 115 miles of bicycle lanes and paths that now crisscross Washington, DC. In Copenhagen, commuters can ride to work following a “green wave” of signal lights timed for bikers. Residents in China’s “happiest city,” Hangzhou, can move easily from public transit onto physically separated bike tracks that have been carved out of the vast majority of roadways. And on any given Sunday in Mexico City, some 15,000 cyclists join together on a circuit of major thoroughfares closed to motorized traffic. What is even more exciting is that in each of these locations, people can jump right into cycling without even owning a bicycle. Welcome to the era of the Bike Share.
