Did you know that Taipei has a bike-share system that's currently free for the first thirty minutes? Bicycle infrastructure is viewed by the federal government in Taiwan as excellent investments in health, and the hundreds of recreational bike paths have helped bike commuting explode throughout the country. It's a great model for the US to consider.

In late 2012, Giant partnered with the Taipei Dept of Transportation to officially launch YouBike, Taipei's bike share program. There are now over 130 locations throughout the city to pick-up or drop-off one of the 5,000 bikes available (all manufactured by Giant of course). And the best part is, it's free to use for the first thirty minutes, with nominal fees for subsequent thirty-minute intervals. Over 10 million bikes were rented in 2013 using YouBike and the numbers keep growing!

According to an Opinion in the Vancouver Sun last week, Giant's Taipei bike sales rose 20% after launching YouBike. Though the bike share service operates at minimal profitability, Giant plans on doubling the number of YouBike bicycles and rental stations by the end of this year. Apparently the investment in the bike share program is worthwhile despite any losses the business itself generates.

If this is working so well for Giant in Taiwan, why aren't they and other bicycle manufacturers investing similarly in bike share program partnerships here in the US? Citi Bike carries the Citibank brand to help subsidize the bike share program in New York City, though few other programs in the US have brand sponsorships or partnerships in place to help subsidize the programs. It seems like a great chance to help boost local bicycle sales, and an opportunity ripe for the picking for bicycle manufacturers that are large enough to be able to afford it.

If nothing else, bike share programs here in the US should consider implementing similar "free for the first thirty minutes" pricing models, as it has shown to be incredibly effective at growing usage and popularity in Taipei.

If only Companion Bike Seat was a larger organization ... we would definitely partner with a bike share program or two, and of course outfit every rental bike with a Companion Bike Seat!

San Francisco CA was named the #1 most bike friendly city in the US in a recently released report by the Alliance for Biking & Walking. Austin TX was second on the list with Long Beach CA coming in third. The ranking was produced based on the number of square miles of bike facilities (bike lanes, multi-use paths, and signed bicycle routes) per city square mile. Here's a list of the top 20 cities in America for bicyclists:

The 2014 Alliance Benchmarking Report summary points out two interesting facts worth calling out:

1. People are healthier in states where more people bike and walk. 
This could be correlational rather than causal, but the research shows that states where more people bike and walk have fewer people with diabetes (as a percent of the state population). It's great to see studies published on the positive health benefits of bike commuting.

2. Very little federal spending goes towards bicycling and walking, compared to trips taken and fatality rates.
Despite the fact that 11% of trips taken are by bicycle or on foot and 15% of roadway fatalities involve a bicyclist or pedestrian, only 2% of federal transportation funding goes to bicycling and walking projects. It seems that the lion's share of this is falling on the states themselves to fund. It's great to see that more and more cities are starting to dedicate budget and initiatives to bike facility development (over the next eight years Austin plans to expand its bike facilities by 1,100 miles) but the disparity in federal spending is still massive.

The study also points out that more people bike or walk to work when the city has strong biking and walking advocacy. The more that we support our local, regional, and national advocacy groups and promote bicycling and walking to work, maybe we can ultimately draw more federal transportation dollars to bike and pedestrian facilities, and make all of our cities safer, greener, and healthier!