Bike-share schemes: what price a healthier city?

Bike-share schemes across the world are promoted by cities as valuable mechanisms for reducing congestion, improving people’s health and cutting air pollution, however they are costly systems to run and require significant investment from both the public and private sector. With New York seeking a further US$14 million in funding for their Citi Bike scheme and London about to start their search for a new sponsor to replace Barclays’ £5 million a year support, Nick Michell asks whether bike-share schemes are worth the investment

Bike-share schemes have seen explosive, global growth over recent years. Between 2008 and 2013 the number of bike-share systems more then doubled from 213 operatin...