I took a trip to Bogota, Colombia last week for a friend's wedding, and knowing how forward-thinking Bogota is with bike-commuting, couldn't help but taking some photos to share my experience. It turns out that Ciclovia, with its roots in Bogota, was the movement that inspired Sunday Streets globally. With Ciclovia, every Sunday and holiday, major streets are shut down to let bicycles and pedestrians to take over the streets. Ciclovia was started in the early '80s, and is most often credited to then Bogota Mayor Hernando Duran Dussan. Due to the popularity of Ciclovia, the local government invested in miles of bicycling infrastructure, ciclorutas, and now Bogota is heralded as one of the best cities in the world for bicyclists and bike commuters.

And of course, even on a rainy day, of which there are many in Bogota, the ciclorutas are still smiling. In Bogota, even the bicyclists get their own traffic signals!

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!

There was an article in The Wall Street Journal last week about Citi Bike, New York City's bike-share program and the financial woes it's facing after it's first full-year after launching. Citi Bike, Needing Millions of Dollars, Looks for Help implies that without raising more revenues from tourists and short-term riders, the program may face being shut-down due to the tens of millions of dollars it lost last year. Interestingly enough the company isn't seeking public money yet to help cover the short-fall. With almost a hundred thousand annual subscribers to the program, it would be interesting to see how much of usage has come from shifting away from other forms of public transportation, namely buses, cabs, and subway. The article points out that most other public transportation systems are publicly subsidized and operate with losses every year - it would also be interesting to see what the average loss per rider is typically and how Citi Bike compares.

In either case, it is great to see that almost a hundred thousand New Yorkers jumped on-board for annual memberships in the first year alone. Let's hope that people in New York and in cities all over the US see it for all the benefits it brings to the city and find a way to make it a permanent fixture across America. Not only do bike-share programs reduce stress on existing mass transit systems, they also reduce traffic and pollution and increase general health and well-being of the community. It's too bad these benefits are much more difficult to put a dollar value against ... losing tens of millions of dollars last year could actually be saving New York just as much money over the long-term!