We have a bike sharing system in DC now (SmartBike). I haven't used it, but have coworkers that do, and they really like it. The system is hooked up to your credit card. When you take out a bike, you swipe a membership card in the kiosk and it records the time you're taking it out. When you return the bike somewhere (at any of the locations around the city), you swipe your card again and you're charged for however long you've had the bike.

Many people in places like DC only use bikes to go short distances (i.e., from their office to another area of downtown to run a quick errand) and they're not avid enough cyclists to want to have their own bike and maintain it. In addition, if you live in a small DC apartment, you may totally lack the room to store a bike (although more people seem to be buying folders to solve this problem). Finally, even if you have a bike, you may not bike to work every day, but may find yourself needing a bike for a quick errand.

In DC and cities like it, cycling is often the fastest and most direct way to get to where you need to go. I tried to take the bus cross-town the other day (I didn't have my bike with me), from Chinatown to Georgetown. It's probably about 2 miles total, maybe a tad more. Anyway, I could do that in less than 15 minutes on my bike. It took 35 minutes EACH WAY on the bus due to traffic. A car would have been impossible at that time, as traffic down K st was backed up the entire way. More people in DC seem to be discovering this benefit of cycling. I think SmartBike Programs are an excellent way to try and get people used to the idea of cycling through the city. It's a non-commitment sort of way for people to try out city cycling and see if they like it.