1. Introduction

The bicycle is often called the “two wheeled green engine” and it is regaining popularity these days because of the benefits from cycling. Compared to driving motor vehicles, cycling has numerous benefits including exercise, reduced traffic congestion, less noise pollution, easier and less costly parking, and lower user as well as social costs . Korea is also becoming a more bicycle friendly country. Since being more environment-responsible has became an important issue, the Korean

government is taking steps to rejuvenate the domestic bicycle industry. The government is also promoting this environment-friendly mode of transportation by encouraging people to use bikes for both leisure and transportation purposes as part of its green growth strategy. Currently, only about 1.2 per cent of Koreans use bicycles as a means of transportation-compared to 14 per cent in Japan and 27 per cent in the Netherlands. The Korean central government and local administrations are announcing policies that will encourage people to use bikes and thus to increase this number. The Ministry of Public Administration and Security announced that it will complete a 3,114 km bicycle path network across the country by 2018. To make way for bicycle paths, a so-called “road diet” program will be introduced which will reduce the number of lanes for cars on major roads. A subway car for cyclists-only has also been proposed for the convenience and safety of riders. The government and several insurance companies already introduced bicycle insurance to cover bicycle accidents. The government also plans to establish a nationwide system that will make quality public bicycles available to riders of all ages. Several local governments are launching projects so that bicycles become a part of everyday life. Public Bicycle System(PBS) programs1) have been introduced in the cities of Changwon, Daejeon, Goyang, with the programs receiving increasing attention in many other cities with initiatives to increase bike usage and to lessen the environmental impacts of transportation. The purpose of this article is to briefly describe the history and development of bicycle sharing programs, review experiences of selected public bicycle systems, and develop guidelines for a successful public bicycle system in Korea.

2. Understanding Public Bicycle System

(1) How it works

A public bicycle system(PBS) is a way of providing alternative personal transportation in an urban setting. A bicycle user, either member or non-member of a PBS program, checks out a bike from one of many bike stations, rides to his/her destination, and returns it to another bike station nearby Figure 1 .2) There are many ways to provide PBS program but it can be loosely categorized into one of three following types.

1) Unregulated Bicycle Sharing

In this type of program, bicycles are simply released into a given area. In some cases, such as a university campus, the bicycles are only designated for use within certain boundaries. Users are expected to leave the bike unlocked in a public area once they reach their destination. The drawback of this type

1) It is also also known as Bicycle sharing program, Community Bike System, Smart-bike, Yellow Bicycle programs, White Bicycle program etc. 2) Some bike-sharing model requires bikes to be returned at the same location from where they were checked out. of program is that there is little protection against theft and vandalism and thus some earlier programs were abandoned.

2) Deposit

A small cash deposit releases the bike from a locked terminal and can only be retrieved by returning it to another just like shopping cart system in major large scale mart in Korea. Since the deposit (usually one or more coins) is a fraction of the bike’s cost, this does little to deter theft.

3) Membership

Current PBS programs, in general, require a user to become a member. Most of the systems have bicycles available at unattended urban locations. In this version of the program, bicycles are usually kept either at volunteer-run hubs (bike stations) or at self-service terminals and are operated as unmanned system. Individuals registered with the program identify themselves with their

2 Server Receives Visa Deposit and Member ID 4 Bicycle User and Logs User Racks and Locks Bicycle. Bike Station Bike Station 2 Logs Return, Returns Deposit Minus Rental Bike Station 1 Fee 3 Bicycle User Selects Bike and Rides to Final Destination

1 Bicycle User Selects Bike and Swipes Credit Card 5 Services and Rebalances or Enters Membership PIN Bikes Beteen Stations Into Bike Station Reader Each Evening

Source : Author modified the original flowchart from Neobikes(www.neobikes.com). membership card(or a smart card, via cell phone) at any of the bike stations to reserve or check out a bicycle. The individual is responsible for the bike until it is returned to another bike station. With the help of information technology(IT) advance, the PBS has gone much further. Some bike stations are solar-powered, with no emissions or unclean sources of energy. RFID(Radio Frequency Identification) wireless communication is used, eliminating negative environmental effects resulting from excavations as well as those associated with the manufacturing of massive amounts of communication cables. Sometimes known as Bike Library models, these bicycles may be given free of charge, for a refundable deposit, or sold at a reduced price. They are assigned to one person who will typically keep the bike for months or years and lock it between uses.

(2) History of PBS

With the successful launch of the Paris’ public bicycle system, Velib,、 interest in public bicycle systems has increased and the growth of bike-sharing programs in the past few years has been explosive. But in fact, the PBS program existed a long time ago and there have been various types of PBS programs over the past 40 years.3) The earliest public bicycle program was introduced in the 1960s in Amsterdam. This program was called the “White Bicycle Plan” as the bicycles used in this program were white. In 1974, the French city of La Rochelle launched a free bike program featuring yellow bicycles that were free to use. In 1994, the Yellow Bike Project in Portland, Oregon, took the approach of simply releasing a number of bicycles to the streets for unrestricted use. These programs provided free bicycles that were supposed to be used for one trip and then left for someone else.

3) For more detailed history of PBS system, see Paul DeMaio (2008), “The Bike-sharing Phenomenon - The History of Bike-sharing”, Carbursters #36, p. 12.; Wikipedia’s “Bicycle sharing system” article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_sharing_system). But the earlier PBS programs looked successful in public but proved unsustainable initially due to theft and vandalism of the bicycles. So the programs in other cities were later revised to operate under a more restrictive system. Since then, many community projects around the country have attempted similar models and met with varying degrees of success. In 1995, City Bikes in Copenhagen was launched with many improvements over the previous PBS programs. This program used specially designed bikes with parts that could not be used on other bikes. The bikes could be picked up and returned at specific locations and are allowed unlimited use of a bike throughout the city center with a refundable deposit. BikeShare, which was operated by the Community Bicycle Network(CBN) in Toronto from 2001 to 2006, was designed to attempt to overcome some of the theft issues by requiring yearly memberships to sign out. But these bikes still experienced theft due to the anonymity of the customer. The major failing of such secure community bike programs was that it required a more of an administration, but could only charge users a portion of the overall costs. Other bike sharing systems evolved to reduce the operating overhead as well as find other sources of funding. The scheme is funded by commercial sponsors. In return, the bikes carry advertisements, which appear on the bike frame and the solid-disk type wheels. The next innovation was to use smart cards. Bikeabout, launched in 1996 by Portsmouth, UK, included cards with magnetic stripes that the students would swipe to sign out a bike. A similar system was set up in Rotterdam. They were not particularly successful, as the number of stations and operating times was seriously limited. The launch of Velo’v、 in Lyon, France turned out to be a turning point. A bike unfriendly city of Lyon saw an increase of 500% in bicycle trips, a quarter of which were due to the bike sharing system. Velo’v、 introduced a number of innovations that were later copied by Velib’、 and most other systems, including electronic locks, smart cards, telecommunication systems and on board computers. In some German cities, the national rail company, , offers a convenient bike rental service: “”. The Call a Bike principle is very simple. After initial online registration, a potential user can phone a number printed on the bike. He then receives a number code that opens the lock. If desired, billing can be done directly to the users mobile phone account.

(3) Management Type

Earlier PBS programs were usually undertaken by community groups, local governments, or public agencies. Now it is common that the program is undertaken by public-private partnerships with a membership rental schemes. Many of the membership programs are being operated through public-private partnerships. Several European cities, including the French cities of Lyon and Paris as well as London, Barcelona and , have signed contracts with private advertising agencies(JCDecaux in Lyon and Paris, Clear Channel in Barcelona) that supply the city with thousands of bicycles free of charge(or for a minor fee). In return, the agencies are allowed to advertise both on the bikes themselves and in other select locations in the city. These programs also prevent theft by requiring users to purchase subscriptions with a credit card or debit card(this option requiring a large, temporary but deposit) and by equipping the bikes with complex anti-theft and bike maintenance sensors such as RFID.

3. Case Studies of Public Bicycle System

Case studies of existing and proposed bike-share programs provide valuable lessons through a comparison among the programs in terms of city population and size, coverage area and number of bicycles and bike-stations.

(1) Current PBS programs over the world

The current popularity of bike sharing is attributed by many to Paris’ successful launching of Velib’、 in 2007. Velib’,、 in turn, followed Lyon’s Velo’v、 (launched in 2005) success and is now considered the largest system of its kind in the world. These successful and influential bike-share programs are being introduced in major cities throughout Europe, North America and Asia.4) Most countries in Europe have launched bicycle sharing system as seen in Figure 2 including Velib’、 and Velo’v.、 Some examples of the PBS in Europe are5: (Copenhagen, Denmark, 1995); Call a Bike( & , .. Germany, 2000 & 2003); Cityrader(Helsinki, Finland, 2000); Citybike(Vienna, Austria, 2003); OYBike(London, UK, 2004); (Stockholm, Sweden, 2006); (Barcelona, Spain, 2007); Vel’oh(Luxembourg, Luxembourg, 2008); BikeOne(Krakow,、 Poland, 2008); BikeMi(Milan, Italy, 2008); Villo!(Brussels, Belgium, 2009). In North America, two of more prominent launches have been a small program started in Washington D.C.(SmartBike) in 2008 and a much larger program, called Bixi, was launched in Montreal, Canada. Montreal’s Bixi began a limited pilot project in fall 2008 and it became North America’s largest bike sharing system in May 2009. Other cities such as Boston, New York, Miami Beach, Montreal, Toronto, Minneapolis, Portland, and Vancouver have expressed an interest in or are setting up public bike systems. Several cities in Asian countries such as Korea, China, and Taiwan introduced public bicycle systems. Beijing and Hangzhou in China launched public bicycle system in 2008. Kaohsiung City(Taiwan) launched the public bicycle system called C-bike accessible via membership and via credit card payment for non-members in 2009. YouBike in Taipei, Taiwan also kicked off in 2009. Another in China and Taiwan. Changwon, Korea launched the Nubija public bicycle system in 2008. The public bicycle systems are running variously in size, coverage area, and number of bicycles and bike-stations. A basic comparison of public bicycle system in various cities is presented in Table 1 .

4) See, for example, New York City Department of Planning (2009), “Bike-Share Opportunities in New York City”; Peter Midgley (2009), “The Role of Smart Bike-sharing Systems in Urban Mobility,” Journeys, May 2009, pp. 23-31. for more detailed case studies. 5) The following PBS information is in order of program name, city, country, launcing year by courtesy of Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_sharing_system). Suomi Finland Iceland Russia

Canada

Kazakhstan Mongolia United North Pacific Afghanistan States North Japan Ocean Iran China Atlantic Pakistan Ocean Algeria Libya Saudi India Mauritania Arabia Thailand Sudan Nlgerls Ethlopia Colombia DR Congo Kenya Indonesia Papua New Tanzania Brasil Guinea Angola Peru Namibia Indian Bolivia Madagascar South South Botswana Ocean Australia Atlantic Pacific Ocean South Ocean Atria New Argentina Zealand

Source : Bike-Sharing Blog(http://bike-sharing.blogspot.com). Note : Green icons on the bike denotes the cities which introduced PBS programs and “?” marked in a circle denotes cities planning to introduce PBS.

Source : Victoria Transport Policy Institute (http://vtpi.org) and New York City Department of Planning. (3) PBS program in Korea

1) Changwon’s Nubija

Changwon is a typical bicycle-friendly city in Korea. Changwon’s 96.6 kilometer-long bike paths are the longest in the country. Regarding PBS program, Changwon is the first Korean city which launched the unmanned bike rental system, “NUBIJA” in October 2008. The NUBIJA system is expected to be a model for a nationwide public bike-lending service. NUBIJA is a combined word of “NUBIda(move around)” and “JAjeongeo(bicycle).” NUBIJA stands for “Nearby Useful Bike, Interesting Joyful Attraction.” The system provides a 24/7 unmanned service all year round based on the concept of “Whoever, Whenever, Wherever” service, employing high technology to make this service work. Radio frequency identification(RFID) tags are installed on the bicycle frame so that they can be easily located and returned without any manual confirmation process. The bike rental system is operated by a central control system. The system manager can check real-time bike rentals by station, day and time as well as statistics by the computer. The system put 1,230 new bicycles at 101 locations in the city center. As many systems do, the Nubija system gives users a free first hour for short-hop trips(the day rate is about $1.50). The service’s annual membership costs 20,000 Korean won($15) and just $.75 per hour after the first two free hours. More than 33,000 people(as of August 2009) have signed up to be members of the Nubija bike share program since its opening. The number of NUBIJA uses up until August 2009 is 815,499 and showed usage of about 8,900 times per day and about 7 times per bike during July to August 2009.

2) Daejeon’s Tashu

Daejeon city is also trying to build “a good city to ride a bicycle” as a climate change response plan. Along with creating cycle paths throughout the city and raising public awareness of the benefits of cycling, the city also started a public bicycle system, “Tashu” in October 2008. It started with 1,000 bikes and 73 volunteer-run bike stations and Daejeon is planning to convert the system into unmanned public bicycle rental system increasing the number of bicycles to 10,000. An unmanned public bicycle system as a pilot program with 30 bicycles and 3 bike stations is being tested.

3) Goyang City

Unlike Changwon or Daejeon of which public bicycle systems are operated by local government, Goyang city is working on its own public bicycle system, U-bike, under public-private partnership. The consortium of private companies is planning to invest and build the public bicycle system infrastructure and operate the system for 10 years with 3,000 bicycles and 125 bike stations. The total investment and 10 years’ operation costs are estimated at 11.7 and 40.3 billion won respectively.

4) Other cities

Seoul city have run free or fee based bicycle rental system mostly at riverside parks along the bicycle paths of Han-river. The city plans to introduce an advanced public bicycle rental system like the Nubija or Velib system. Other cities are also considering introduction of unmanned public bicycle system to increase bike usage as a response to “green growth” strategy.

4. Policy Suggestions

The reasons for implementing bicycle sharing systems are as numerous as the forms they take. Recently and most notably, municipal governments have promoted systems as a way to make alternatives to motorized travel, allowing people to shift to bicycle, hoping to reduce the environmental side effects from motor vehicle travel. By reducing motor vehicle travel in urban areas, they can help reduce traffic congestion, user transportation costs, energy consumption and pollution emissions. They also offer convenient mobility for many types of urban trips, provide healthy exercise. The fact that PBS programs can be built, installed and open for business in months rather than years also enables bicycle sharing program to contribute to economic growth and job creation. Costs of introducing public bicycle systems include the public space requirements for bike stations, possibly more investments in cycling facilities, and any negative impacts from increased urban bicycle traffic, such as crash risk. Despite these costs, public bicycle system is gaining popularity and is expected to be introduced in more cities over the world. To make bicycles more popular in Korea with successful provision of public bicycle system, we need to benchmark other countries’ success as well as failure cases. One of the reasons of earlier public bicycle systems’ drawbacks are bicycle theft and vandalism. Current public bicycle systems reduced the problem of theft thanks to the technological improvements of bike tracking. It is suggested that current PBS programs provide one-stop bicycle-related service centers at major bike stations and mobile repair stations for damaged bikes. The centers and mobile repair stations may play a leading role in the nation’s bicycle riding campaign. A bicycle registration system which gives out an identification number for each bike is needed to prevent theft. The bike registration system would work much better with bicycle insurance covering bicycle theft since current bike insurance does not offer compensation for theft or damage of bicycles. Another important factor for successful public bicycle system is secure funding and procurement. The Nubija program in Changwon and many others suggested PBS programs in Korea are based on local government owned bicycles and facilities with little or no user fees. Without secure funding sources, PBS programs may not be able to offer such services. Membership/user fees and advertising could be a potential revenue source. Advertising revenues from a bike sharing franchise could contribute to program expansion. The combined revenues from advertising and membership/user fees would cover operating costs for the program. Many of the world’s bike sharing programs are built and run under franchise contracts with street furniture advertising companies financed by advertising revenues, on-street car parking revenues, and/or user’s subscriptions. Research on foreign countries’ funding mechanisms and procurement structures is needed to secure funding and for a successful public-private partnership to be introduced to PBS programs in Korea. Many research projects are also required before the introduction of a PBS program rather than replication of a system applied in other country. Estimates of the number of bicyclists and the number of potential users of bike sharing programs need to be available. A discussion of suggested program sizes and phasing, pilot programs, optimal user fee levels, and funding mechanisms and procurement structures is also needed.

Chun Kon Kim Associate Research Fellow Service Industries Division [email protected]