Jason Meinzer, Philadelphia’s CityRyde

Paris has the Velib, Montreal the Bixi, Barcelona the Bicing, New York is considering them, Boulder’s announced the B-Cycle; they’re called 3rd generation bike shares. They’re located in the central city, available in lieu of a taxi ride, and they’re popular: the Bike-sharing Blog counts 238 of them around the world in 2010, up 49%!

Meet Jason Meinzer, CityRyde co-founder; he’s from a family of entrepreneurs: Mom, Dad and twin brother. His CityRyde created software for these 3rd generation bike sharing systems to monitor usage and the carbon offset credits they accumulate. Customers include the University of Chicago, the University of Colorado at Boulder, and maybe UC Irvine’s ZotWheels.

He’s funded by Philadelphia’s Ben Franklin Technology Partners.

His software creates a potential revenue stream, based on the sale of carbon offset credits and any additional funding is appreciated.

If Newport Beach were to implement a bike share program, where would you want to place them? Fashion Island, in Corona del Mar along Coast Hwy, at the beach near the piers, the Wedge and Big Corona all come to mind. How about at CdM High School? But without mass transit moving the public into town, would it get used, or would it all be a waste of money?

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This Post Has One Comment

  1. An email reply from Charles Alban in Laguna Beach:
    Build it and they will come? If you did this at Fashion Island, you are essentially using the bikes to get from one parking lot to another.
    And you can rent bikes now from bike shops. How is this different?
    It’s a cultural issue. I’d certainly go after the high school. It needs to be cool to get to school by means other than than riding in a vehicle and very uncool to drive yourself in an SUV.
    I’d suggest enlisting a youth trend-setter like Hurley to influence the kids. Hurley-branded bikes. maybe electric bikes on a lease basis. or just sponsor the bikes and issue them to the kids. provide incentives. an award for the longest daily bike ride and so on.
    the kids need to lead the way. they just need a nudge.

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