A couple days ago I attended a table talk with GRF Seema and fellow Rose scholars and we discussed the history of bike sharing systems worldwide. We dove into how these systems influenced the lives of people in a variety of different countries across hundreds of years. In Europe, in the mid-1800’s there were many fatal accidents involving automobiles and as the number of children dying because of these incidents increased, the concern regarding these vehicles grew stronger. Soon, policymakers began to consider alternative means of transportation that would not pose such a high threat to pedestrians and other members of society. Many iterations of bike sharing systems were created and implemented starting in Europe but like any other technology, the first implementations failed. However, in 1991 Denmark (now one of the leaders in amount of people using bicycles for commuting) launched the “next generation” bike sharing system in Farso.

Many countries have since implemented similar bike sharing programs, however, there is still a long way to go to improve the numbers. During the talk, I couldn’t help but think that a system like this would never work in my hometown of Miami, FL. Commuting basically anywhere in Miami requires a car because of the poor public transit systems. Also, there is a high chance that wherever you will be commuting to requires taking an extremely busy highway. Implementing bicycles into the city would only work for leisure around the beach/dock areas, if that.

I enjoyed this talk because it made me realize how helpful these systems could be in cities that are designed in conjunction with them and how city planners should keep initiatives like this in mind when thinking of ways to create ways cities that work for everyone.