Tracking the 'Bikeshare Boom'

The latest in CityLab's chronological explorations of multi-modal infrastructure examines the rise of bikeshare into a global and ubiquitous phenomenon.

1 minute read

September 6, 2015, 1:00 PM PDT

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


Sarah Goodyear provides the text for an interactive timeline that travels from the earliest examples of a bikeshare system, in 1965 Amsterdam, to the current estimated number of bikeshare bicycles: one million.

Along the way was a major technological advancements that prevented theft (first implemented in Rennes, France in 1998) that precipitated bikeshare's adoption in Europe and then the United States. The timeline notes that 2008 was a big year for bikeshare outside of Europe,w ith major systems launching in Washington, D.C., Montréal, and Hangzhou.

The initial installation in the series provided similar, interactive access to the 50-year chronology of the national rails-to-trails movement.

Monday, August 17, 2015 in CityLab

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