Bike Sharing Comes to Pottstown

[The Historian]

While we are waiting for big American cities such as Washington DC and New York to develop a bike-sharing program, progressive little Pottstown, Pennsylvania, population 22 thousand, modestly started one of their own.

http://www.bikepottstown.org/

The Chamber of Commerce has 20 Fujis available during the week from 9 to 5.

This comment from the FAQ page will gladden the hearts of many folks here:

Q: Can I use the bike to do my shopping in town?

A: Of course, Bike Pottstown wants these bikes to be used to replace your car.

[TuckertonRR]

Great! I think Philly's somewhere in the process of doing this too (or at least talking about it)

[cerewa]

TuckertonRR - yes, Philly is at least considering starting a bikeshare program (http://bikesharephiladelphia.org/home/).

This was posted earlier but: all you pro-bikesharing Philly folks, please go to http://bikesharephiladelphia.org/takeaction/ to send a pro bikesharing e-mail to the Mayor's office. (I have heard it's a good idea to include a personalized comment because it will get your message a bit more attention).

[dingster1]

Wasn' there an article in Bicycling Mag about DC starting a new program?

[EricJ]

Every time I go to the supermarket, I get a shopping cart with woggly wheels. I can guarantee, under bike sharing, the equivalent thing will happen. Who is going to maintain all those bikes, esp. when there are enough of them to make it even practical?

Eric

[cerewa]

Every time I go to the supermarket, I get a shopping cart with woggly wheels. I can guarantee, under bike sharing, the equivalent thing will happen. Who is going to maintain all those bikes, esp. when there are enough of them to make it even practical?

In the big cities, it's like "carshare" programs - you have to pay to use it.

I personally have never been in a rental car with woggly wheels.

I'm not so sure about the Pottstown, "free-of-charge" model.

[The Historian]

Every time I go to the supermarket, I get a shopping cart with woggly wheels. I can guarantee, under bike sharing, the equivalent thing will happen. Who is going to maintain all those bikes, esp. when there are enough of them to make it even practical?

Eric

Tri-County Bicycles of Pottstown, the local independent bike shop. (There's a Bike Line chain location in town as well.)

The "Partners" page discusses the groups that came together to form and fund Bike Pottstown, and the Links page offers you the study done before the program was launched.

[donnamb]

It seems to me a bike sharing program in a smaller city might be easier to manage.