Theft Apparently Not a Problem for Bike-Sharing Programs in the U.S.

Paris' Velib bike-sharing program has had problems with theft and vandalism, overshadowing the more positive results in other countries. Kazis writes that the problem can be traced to poorly designed locking mechanism on Paris' bikes:

"Velib bikes lock on the side of the frame, as seen here. Other operators, including ClearChannel, B-cycle and the Public Bike System, have had dramatically lower rates of theft and use a different locking method, explained Bill Dossett, who runs Minneapolis's new NiceRide bike-sharing system. 'The ClearChannel systems had the locking mechanism built into the headset,' where the handlebars meet the bicycle frame, 'and just has never had the same problems,' he said."

Thanks to Noah Kazis