Bike-Sharing

Bike-sharing is a service where bicycles are available to the public at different locations for free or at a cost. Bike-sharing generally occurs in bigger cities, like New York, Chicago, Boston and Dallas. All bike-sharing now is electronic and connected to mobile apps and credit cards. Bike-sharing has increased in popularity tremendously over the past decade. In 2017, the US had 35 million trips taken via bike-share, a 25% increase from 2016.

Dockless bike-sharing is taking over in many cities, and accounts for 58% of the bikes in major areas.  Instead of having physical locations to pick up and leave the bikes, the bikes are picked up wherever the last person has left it. This means that you can leave the bike wherever you want, making it more convenient in some aspects. These bikes are locked remotely when the person is finished using it, and unlocked when you enter your credit card and the bike number into the app on your phone. However, dockless bike-sharing has created problems in US cities because when bikes are not properly locked, they can be stolen and vandalized. These bikes are left in the streets and sidewalks and are not properly picked up, which angers many people and cities.

Lyft and Uber, the biggest ride-hailing companies in the US are now expanding into bike-sharing. Uber bought a tech-startup Jump, which operates electric bikes. Uber is also partnering with the company Lime which allows people to rent scooters in different cities. Lyft followed in Ubers footsteps and recently bought Motivate, the largest bike-sharing service in the United States, and will rename it Lyft Bikes.

In the Downtown Tampa area there are over 42 bike racks, with up to 31 bikes on each rack. These are provided by the company Coast and has been successful over the last few years.