San Francisco's 7-Bike Sharing System

The city has been investigating the idea of implementing a bike sharing system, but has hit various walls in pushing the program forward. Once major concern is the amount of bikes the city will be able to include in the first phase of the project, which has been estimated as low as 50.

"'The question now is how soon,' he said after taking a ride. 'But we need 300 or 400 bicycles to start with to have a real shot. I think the mayor knows - we have to go big.'

Several U.S. cities are considering bike sharing and are watching Washington, which has a small but growing 100-bike program run by Clear Channel Outdoor.

Sunday's event was run by the Brandenburger Foundation of Newport Beach (Orange County), which is working to spread Bixi - a mix of the words "bike" and "taxi" - from Montreal, where it was launched by that city's parking authority. Its representatives are on a tour of West Coast cities including Long Beach, San Jose and Portland, Ore."