Bikesharing in Africa

[the_future_modernes]

Africa: Bike share Systems Already Thrive

Cape Town is one of the growing number of cities worldwide that is considering 'bike-share', a local authority-owned bicycle transport system aimed at short-term trips around the city. There are already more than 130 city bike-share systems worldwide, from the most famous, Velib in Paris, to the most recent, Barclays (Boris' Bikes) in London, and the largest, Hangzhou, in China.

Bicycle sharing systems, also known as public bike schemes, are designed for quick urban trips and to complement public transport, enabling people to complete the last few kilometres of a journey by bike rather than on foot.

Unlike with leisure bicycle rentals, users toting smart cards can pick up a bicycle at one location (every 300 metres or so) and drop it off at another. The systems offer fast and easy access, with no large deposits, documentation or attendants. Pricing systems are geared toward short commuter trips. Often such systems are government subsided, or funded through advertising revenue. They're slick, stylish, and fully automated - with touch-screen maps, GPS-based route planners and sophisticated tracking devices.

"These systems are significant public transport projects in their own right, as well as important urban economic development, urban quality, climate change and public health interventions," says Bradley Schroeder, ITDP (Institute for Transport Development Policy) bike-share technical expert.

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But here's the thing: had Sibomana been in Rwanda, the country of his birth, or Malawi, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Zimbabwe or Zambia, for that matter, he could either have left behind his shoes as 'insurance', or simply taken a bicycle taxi and sailed forth into the gale.

For public bike systems are already common practice in much of rural and urban Africa, albeit on a smaller, and less-sophisticated scale.

In Malawian towns, suits and 'Sunday best' are common cycling attire, although the bicycles are refurbished second-hand imports from India or China. And the 'bike-share' operators, entrepreneurs at dusty road-ride stalls, have dealt with the issue of theft not with smart cards and auto-locking but by never letting the bicycle out of their sight.MORE