London's Cycle Hire Program

Transport for London and London's Mayor have put together this Bicycle Hire program.  The Mayor initiated the idea to encourage fitness and also provide a green transit alternative through London.  London will also be hosting large crowds for the 2012 Olympics where these might come in handy.  There are kiosks located throughout the city - about 300 to 400 meters apart (roughly 2/10 mile) - they are all self-service as demonstrated by the video.  Click title for more information.

Maybe Lake Worth would not be large enough for the economies of scale for such a program, but a county-wide program could be possible.  This is worth exploring.  There have been other attempts, Key West and Portland, Oregon come to mind, where a borrow-a-cycle program - based upon the goodwill of the public - have been tried.  A fleet of bikes - many times coming from confiscated or unclaimed bikes collected by law enforcement - are turned over for this sort of program.  The bikes are painted distinctive colors so they are quickly identifiable as being part of the program.  These are left around town wherever they happened to have been used last and available for another person to use it for the next trip.  However, I understand that bikes seem to disappear and need to be replaced often.  There are also liability and maintenance issues with this sort of free program.

Both programs might cut into revenue from existing bike shops - but for the standardized "hire" program, local bike shops could have the opportunity to bid for service contracts.