Cleveland's Zagster Bikeshare Business Model Is Tailored for Mid-Sized Cities

Sarah Goodyear reports on the Zagster bikeshare system launched in Cleveland, which lacks "bulky docks and "solar-powered payment kiosks" and uses bikes that look pretty similar to other bikes around the city.

But those differences from the more famous bikeshare systems in other cities is not what's unique about Zagster: "The thing that makes Cleveland’s new bike-share unusual is that it is the first public bike-share in the United States that is not only completely privately funded, but was also initiated by the private sector."

Goodyear describes the Zagster model—which has been modeled by hotels and on college campuses while costing one-fifth as much as a larger system—as an ideal fit for smaller and mid-sized cities.

For more on Zagster, Alison Grant provides local coverage for the Cleveland Plain Dealer.