This week’s table talk was about bike sharing systems and why and how certain models succeed while others don’t. For example, bike sharing is popular and/or profitable in European and Asian countries like the Netherlands, Norway, and China. In United States cities, it is much less popular for a number of reasons. For example, cities here are more spread out horizontally, making walking and biking less desirable than driving or taking a train. Furthermore, the infrastructure is not adequate for everyone to feel completely safe to bike on the roads. Also, in general, car ownership is not actively discouraged since it is relatively easy to obtain a driver’s license and buy a car. Along with the emergence of car sharing apps like Uber, it seems unlikely that a large portion of the population is going to start using bike sharing in the near future.

Nonetheless, it was very interesting to hear about the origin and evolution of these bike sharing systems. In Amsterdam, the system was created by activists to protest the safety concerns associated with driving in the 1960s. Over time, the system evolved so other entities would be in charge of sustaining bike sharing, like the government or private sector. It was super fascinating to learn about the marketing efforts tied with bike sharing since the stations and bikes themselves are like moving billboards. I personally want bike sharing to take off in America because of the environmental impact but the private sector can get involved and heavily influence its success by investing in the marketing opportunity.