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New Bike Rental Program Bcycle Promises to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint

Reduce Pollution, Save Money and Get into Shape by Sharing Bikes with Your Neighbors

Angela Colley
Angela Colley, Yahoo! Contributor Network
Aug 16, 2010 "Share your voice on Yahoo! websites. Start Here."
American's love their cars. After all, cars are convenient, quick and easy. Unfortunately, cars also lead to pollution, material waste and a rapid depletion of oil. They are also expensive to purchase and maintain, and do nothing for our health. Bicycles on the other hand do not cause any air pollution, do not use any natural resources, are much cheaper to maintain and help you burn calories to boot. But not everyone has a place to store a bicycle in their homes, or the patience to lock it up at every stop which is where Bcycle comes in. Bcycle has started a bike rental program they are aiming to take nationwide.

How Bcycle Works

Bcycle works similar to a car rental agency. First, you sign up for a membership. Next, pick up a bicycle at a Bcycle rental kiosk. Then you take the bike wherever you need to go and return it to a rental kiosk when you have finished with it. The best part, you do not have to return the bike at the kiosk you rented it from, any one will do- even after hours.

The Bcycle program does require a membership. You can sign up for membership at the Bcycle website or sign up right at the rental station. These memberships last from one day or up to a year depending on your purchase linked to your credit or debit card. There is also a usage fee for the bike rental, broken down by half hour increments.

The B-Effect

Bcycle has invented a program to show you just how much good a bicycle rental program can do your city on their website; they call it the B-Effect. For example, if 10% of the population of New Orleans rents a bike for 30 minutes, it will save 757 tons of carbon emissions, 78,020 gallon of gas and burn 74,079,990 calories.

To see what Bcycle can do for your town, go to the B-Effect website and enter in your zip code.

Bcycle Locations

As of 2010, Bcycle has opened their bicycle sharing program in Denver, Colorado and Chicago, Illinois. The company also plans to start operating in Honolulu, Hawaii and San Antonio, Texas.

The company is running a contest to see which cities to expand to next. If you want the Bcycle program in your city, all you need to do is vote for your zip code on the Who Wants it More? contest page.

Bcycle, How it Works
Bcycle, B-cycle Lands in Hawaii
Bcycle, B-cycle to Launch in San Antonio!

Published by Angela Colley - Featured Contributor in Lifestyle

Angela Colley is a freelance writer with a background in real estate and mortgage, an infatuation with organic products, and an addiction to films (with an out of control DVD collection.) She lives in New Or...  View profile

  • Bcycle can reduce tons of carbon emissions.
  • Bcycle can burn thousands of calories.
  • Bcycle can save hundreds of dollars.
According to Bcycle, the company tracks data such as distance, duration, calories burned, and carbon offset are captured and uploaded to personal web pages at Bcycle.com.

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