Bicycle Sharing in Portland, Kind of

After enjoying a brief layover in Boston (on the way to another location in Massachusetts for Father's Day) this weekend, I was pleasantly surprised to see that Portland, Maine kind of has it's own bicycle sharing program up and running. The company operating the Portland operation is called Zagster.

There is currently just one one station located at the Portland Transportation Center and it's more a rental program than a sharing program, but it's still a positive sign in a city that is exploring possibility of setting up an "actual" multi-locational bike sharing program similar to Boston's Hubway or New York City's new Citi bike.

I haven't had a chance to test out the bikes, and I am probably not in their desired demographic since I own a bike and already commute on it every day. But at only $20 for a day's use, it sounds like this would be great for visitors to our fair city (assuming they make it through the cyclist hell hole of highway ramps that is right next to the transportation center!). You can read about the program here on Boston.com. I haven't seen it mentioned in the local media yet.

Bicycle Faux Pas

Here are a couple photographic examples of improper bicycle etiquette. 

Bike to the Movies

A popular bike rack outside of the Nickelodeon Cinemas. 

Wear a Helmet!

I've been getting into bicycling more and more lately, and expect that the warmer weather ahead will get a lot of people out on the roads and trails with their bikes for the first time this year.  I'm a fan of helmets, not for how dorky they make people look, but more for the practical reason of being an important part of cyclding safety. So today I want to direct readers of this blog to this post over at local blog Sweeter Salt. The author of Sweeter Salt had an unfortunate accident on her bicycle recently which resulted in fractured elbows (yikes!), but thankfully she is also pro-helmet and avoided any serious head injuries.

Some snippets from her story:

Basically the lock fell out of the basket and tangled in my front wheel, making it screech to a stop, tossing me over the handle bars. I landed on my hands, but banged my head on the ground. 

WEAR YOUR BIKE HELMET!!! Each and every single time you ride a bike. I don’t care if your hair looks cute – not an excuse. If I hadn’t been wearing mine I could have had brain damage. Seriously.

 Oh, and don’t have loose stuff hanging around. Secure your lock, don’t wear loose clothing, tie your shoes, etc. This all could have been avoided if I put my lock in my backpack.

Kudos to this local cyclist for sharing her story. Hopefully her pro-helmet message and bike safety tips are taken to heart by bicyclists of all ages and skill levels.

The Right Direction

You might have seen it already, but you should be aware of a report published by the Alliance for Biking & Walking which found that "the number of Mainers who commute to work by bicycle increased by 120 percent between 1990 and 2009." Impressive! You should check out this press release by the Bicycle Coalition of Maine for all the details. Here are a few more highlights they noted:

• Maine ranks 10^th nationally in the number of people who bike and walk to work

• While 12 percent of all trips in the U.S. are by bike and foot, the report notes that only 1.6 percent of federal transportation dollars go to biking and walking.

Bicycle Registration

Do you own a bicycle and live in Portland? You might as well register your bicycle with the city using this nifty website. You simply enter some contact information and information specific to your bicycle and you will be contacted in the event that your bicycle is recovered.

Bike Rack Map

I recently happened to stumble upon this page on the city website that links to a map with downtown bike rack locations:



It looks like this map was made in 2009 so it doesn't include newer bike racks (I have a feeling that many more have been built over the last two years) and it only includes the immediate downtown area, but I still find it interesting. If I had a bicycle (I'm thinking about getting a new one) and was looking for somewhere secure to lock it up while I was out and about then I might be inclined to open up this map on my phone and find out where to go.

Bicycle Sharing

Portland currently has a car-sharing program, UCar Share, so could it also support a bike-sharing program?

There are several bike-sharing systems in place around the globe and dozens of companies that are specializing in this field. A notable new North American system is in Washington D.C. The U.S. capital's new bike-sharing system, Capital Bikeshare, recently debuted this month. 

The system works similar to car-sharing, in that you sign up for a membership and then have access to the bicycles which are parked at convenient locations throughout the city. According to the Capital Bikeshare website, their service in D.C. has started with 1,100 bikes at 114 stations. After signing up with the bike-share service, you then can take a bicycle from its station anytime, as long as there is indeed a bike there, and use it as you wish. 

The pricing for the service is interesting. You can use a bike for a day by paying $5, or pay for a 30 day or an annual membership. An annual membership is normally $75 but is currently discounted to $50 and I'm sure there will be promotions on the yearly membership throughout the year. Beyond the membership fee, there is a certain price depending on how long you use the bicycle. The first 30 minutes of each session are free, but beyond that the prices get a bit steep. They caution users on the website that if you are planning on using a bike for an extended amount of time, that you go through a bicycle rental facility. Currently, having a bike for 6.5 - 24 hours is a hefty $70.50. 

Clearly, an avid cyclist would be better off purchasing their own bicycle, and won't be getting rid of their current one in order to switch to bike-sharing. But for someone who only occasionally wants to use a bicycle or someone whose bike is temporarily out of service, bike-sharing seems like a good deal. Bike sharing might be comparable to standard bicycle rental prices in some cities, which would make it an option for tourists as well. It's an obvious point, but I will just mention that whereas car-sharing aims to reduce overall car usage, bike-sharing aims to increase bike use. So perhaps bike sharing would work better with a different approach than that of car sharing. Just a thought, I don't have any suggestions at this time in regards to a radical new approach.

Here in Portland, it would be tough to make a strong argument for the necessity of a bike sharing program. It does seem to have some potential in larger cities, and I've heard that some sort of bicycle sharing system may be started a bit closer to home in Boston .Most people in Portland who would want to ride a bicycle around town probably already own one, and there are some great affordable options in the area for bike rentals. I'm not being paid to mention them (but I would be open to some sort of compensation!), but Gorham Bike & Ski on Congress Street rents bicycles starting at $25 a day or $125 a week. That price even includes a helmet and lock and choice of many different styles of bicycles for both genders. 

2010 Great Portland Bike-Swap

The annual bike swap at USM's Sullivan Gym is this Sunday, April 24th. It starts at 10am, so if you want to have a wide variety of purchasing choices, you should be sure to arrive a lot earlier than that. I attended last year, and it was an interesting event.

Some local bicycling related links:

Bike Maine

Portland Bike Commuting

Portland Green Streets

Public Bike Forum - Jan. 9, 2010

I saw this on the Press Herald today...

"The city plans to hold a forum on Saturday, Jan. 9, to get public input on developing strategies to improve bicycling in the community.

One goal, according to a release put out this morning, is to help Portland become a Bicycle Friendly Community, as designated by the League of American Bicyclists.

This fall, the release said, the city was awarded an honorable mention for its application to be considered a bike-friendly community. The league suggested a number of ways Portland could improve “bikability,” the release said, including an expansion of Bike to Work Day, increasing the number of bike lines along major arterials, improving public education efforts for safety, and incorporating bicycling issues/needs in planning and large-scale development.

The forum will be held from 9 a.m. to noon at the Merrill Rehearsal Hall at City Hall. Members of the public are encouraged to pre-register at http://www.portlandmaine.gov/planning/conferenceregistrationbikes.asp."

Sign up!

Life in the bike lane: July 2009

Here's a run-down of some bicycle related links:

• Formed in 1992, the Bicycle Coalition of Maine has some great resources available on their website. The group's aim is to "advocate bicycling safety, education, and access..." throughout the state. Be sure to check out the many events on their calendar.

• The city has created a nice google map with locations of bike racks, check it out here.

• A public meeting on the proposed Long Creek Bike/Ped bridge in South Portland will be held during the South Portland City Council Workshop on Monday, July 13th, 2009. FMI about the meeting. Check out the presentation on the project here (opens up a .pdf file). This connection would integrate with a new Bike/Ped route over a new Veteran's Bridge (connection between Portland and South Portland) which is in the works. Exciting stuff and a great opportunity.

• Also, it was announced in June that you can park your bicycle inside the Spring Street parking garage (owned by the city) for free. I hope they start allowing this at all the other city garages, too.