Bike Shares Around the Republic, Part I

Barcelona's bicing

We did a tour for a wonderfully attentive and sharp group of visitors from Washington, D.C. earlier this week.  From the Summit Foundation's Sustainable Cities program they were researching and experiencing, well, sustainable cities.  Bike share systems of course play a role and got us thinking, what is it, in the simplest explanation, that makes bike share such A Good Thing.

Copenhagen's City Bike

Boiled down to one easy phrase, it redemocratises the bicycle.  It brings the bicycle back to the city's residents.  It boldly reintroduces the bicycle as urban transport. This is one of the key points in Mikael's keynote, "Four Goals for Promoting Urban Cycling," and features in much of our work at Copenhagenize.

Velib in Paris

Business men and women, Chic'sters, hipsters, going about their daily business with a little two-wheeled help.  No wonder we like it so much.

dublinbikes

Moving people and furniture.  One Montreal Bixi at a time.

Bicycle Social Club in Montreal

Don't try telling us here at Cycle Chic that urban cycling isn't sociable. You'll never be able to convince us. Here are some shots of the Montreal Bicycle Social Club. Above, creative use of a Bixi to get a piece of flea market furniture home.











I always feel at home in Montreal. But seeing a Danish Nihola cargo bike (and doing a u-turn on Parc to go back and take a photo of these two) helps make me feel closer to Copenhagen.

Montreal Bixi Goodness

The Montreal bike share programme Bixi is out in force, in association with Cycle Chic, of course. :-)

Montreal Cycle Chic J'♥ - Day Two

We'll be dishing up a steady stream of Montreal Cycle Chic over the next few days. We simply can't help ourselves.



Here's Christian, one of the photobloggers on the new Montreal Cycle Chic blog. We went for a spin around town.