As part of Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn's goal to make the city a more bike friendly community, the city has partnered with CycleHop, LLC and Social Bicycles to create a bicycle sharing program.
- During Oct. 2012, the City of Tampa released a request for proposals (RFP) to create a bicycle sharing program. The proposal would create a 300 bike and 30 station program throughout Tampa's downtown core, Ybor City and surrounding neighborhoods by Fall 2013.
Mayor Buckhorn's statement released March 6, "The idea for bicycle sharing is simply to give residents and visitors one more way to get around our urban core." Tampa is poised to follow a trend that's very popular in China and Europe although U.S. cities like Denver, New York, Miami, Washington D.C., and Minneapolis are enjoying successful bicycle programs as well.
Denver, CO (B-Cycle) - 500 bikes, 50 stations
Minneapolis, MN (Nice-Ride) - 700 bikes, 65 stations
Portland, OR - 750 bikes, 74 stations
Miami, FL (DecoBike) - 1,100 bikes, 100 stations
Washington, D.C. (CapitalBikeShare) - 1,100 bikes, 110 stations
New York, NY - 10,000 bikes, 600 stations
Chicago, IL, Madison, WI and Boulder, CO also have bicycle sharing programs that provide convience and affordability for residents and visitors
. 3 types of bicycle sharing programs; 1 Unregulated 2 Deposit 3 Membership The unregulated programs are usually confined to a small area like a campus, but hugely unpopular due to vandalism and theft because anyone can use bikes without accountability or regulation. The deposit programs require a small cash deposit that release a bike from one locked station or terminal and deposit is retrieved when bike is returned to another station. The membership programs are used by registered members with membership cards, smart cards or cell phones that allow members to check out bikes for a short period of time (3 hrs or less) from various hubs or stations throughout a city.
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