We are proud and excited to announce Bike Rental Station in Franceour initial roll-out of an old idea of Sam's that has long been brewing behind the scenes. Last week, the Portland Office of Transportation began soliciting offers from the private sector for a new bike sharing program similar to what is being offered in more and more European cities, including most recently Paris.
The bike rental system is part of Sam's efforts to attain a Platinum rating from the Leauge of American Bicyclists, something that no major U.S. city has yet done. The hope is that this rental system will provide people who otherwise would not receive the opportunity to choose bicycling for short trips around the central city. Rental bikes make it as easy as possible and take away the hassles that sometimes come with transporting and locking up your bike. Portland hopes to provide a lot of would-be bicyclists a convenient transportation option and contribute to the city's larger goals, such as reducing congenstion and our addiction to polluting, middle-eastern oil.
[0]Typical Rental BikeAs folks who have lived in Portland a while know, this is not the first time the city has attempted a bike-sharing program. In the mid-nineties one thing Portland tried to do to make bicycle riding a viable transportation alternative was the now famous (or infamous, depending on your point-of-view) Yellow Bike program. The program, in a perhaps somewhat Utopian way, basically distributed a bunch of bright yellow bikes across the city, which were then free and open to public use. As one might predict, this effort garnered a lot of attention, but the non-profit effort eventually died out as the bikes kept getting stolen and/or became too vandalized to ride.
While "Red Bikes" is reminiscent of the old Yellow Bike program, it will actually be a lot more like FlexCar, only for bicycles. Here's how it works:
1. A series of bikes (500 initially, but more in the future if it proves successful) will be distributed across the city at kiosks at likely destinations and starting points for a bike rider.
2. These bikes will be locked into the kiosks with special technology that only opens when you enter your credit card data.
3. If you want to ride, you swipe your card, and pay a nominal fee for the ride. This program has security measure to prevent theft and damage.
4. These bikes will constantly be monitored and rotated around to make sure that they don't build up at certain end points, and that there are always enough at particularly popular origination spots.
Already in use in France in Lyon and Paris, we know that this type of program can be successful. PDOT intends to create a network of low-cost rental bikes similar to the Velo-v program developed in Lyon, France, France's third-largest city, and now in Paris.
The news: Our office has (after much discussion and legal wordsmithing) recently released what in the bureaucratic world is called a "request for proposals " or RFP. Basically, with an RFP, we are asking companies from the private sector to propose different possible programs that they could help us implement, run, and/or administer. If you know anyone who would be seriously interested in pursuing this opportunity, the RFP is below.
We are also seeking input from the community about the best potential locations for these kiosks. If you have thoughts, feel free to post below. The RFP has a list of potential spaces that we are initially considering, but this is a very tentative and fluid list that will be ammended and added to. You can look at this on page 5 of the RFP document attached below.
For more information about PDOT's "red bike" effort, you can read the following news articles:
The Oregonian article [1] on the new bike program in Paris.
The New York Times article [1], also on the Paris Velo-v program.
And for more on the Velo-v bike rentals program in Lyon, you can read here [2].
Posted below is the actual RFP, in case you or someone you know might be interested in applying to design and administer the program. The deadline for response is September 17. (NOTE: Now extended until October. For more information, visit link below. Hard copy of RFP removed from website, as you must sign up online to apply.)
TO APPLY PLEASE LOG ON TO THE CITY OF PORTLAND WEBSITE, HERE [3].
(http://cityofportland.ebidsystems.com/public/solicitationDetail.asp?Solicitation=106720 [4])
| Attachment | Size |
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| NYTimes Paris Bike story.pdf [5] | 95.67 KB |