How to Make Bikeshare More Popular

Utpal Dholakia examines a potential antidote to the widespread resistance to public transit, in the era of automobile:

Against the backdrop of general malaise and stagnation, public bike-sharing programs feel like a breath of fresh air. These programs are popping up in one city after another across the United States.

The article provides explanation of bikesharing, for the uninitiated, and also provides several angles from which advocates and planners can start to build bikeshare systems that appeal to the masses both as a new form of transit and as an alternative to the automobile. For instance, one potentially appealing aspect of bikeshare is already in place, according to Dholakia:  "Unlike other public transit methods, [Bikeshare] transfers control over getting from point A to point B back to the consumer."

The biggest impediment to bikeshare adoption, according to Dholakia, is the perception of bike safety. Dholakia lays out a gameplan to address the perception of safety on bikes, with more detail in the article: 1) provide clear explanations of risk, 2) target messages for people with different levels of comfort or concern, and 3) target locations for bikeshare where risk is relatively low.