Bike Share Philadelphia hosts demonstration at Penn

As students straggled into the Penn Bookstore in the frigid cold yesterday, they were greeted by an unusual sight - a high-tech station full of sleek bicycles.

Bike Share Philadelphia - an organization advocating for public transit via bicycle - held a demonstration station yesterday on the corner of 36th and Walnut streets to spread information about the cause and to let people try out their bicycles for free.

Even though the temperature fell below 20 degrees, many Penn students, faculty members, University City District officials and members of the press stopped by to learn about biking systems and the technology behind them, Bike Share Philadelphia representative Russell Meddin said.

The system used yesterday is called Public Bike Systems, which is based in Quebec.

Members of the biking service Bixi from Montreal explained the different facets of the bikes - which are solar powered, WiFi enabled and contain automatic lights that go on when a biker leaves the station.

Nyno Belo, a Bixi representative, said that Minneapolis will begin using Public Bike Systems in May.

Meddin explained that in Philadelphia, there would be 450 stations around the city, each 300 yards from the next so that "if all the bikes are gone at one station, you just walk 300 yards to pick another."

Each station would have a map to show available bikes, Meddin said. When a station is empty, the central office will be notified to move bikes to those stations.

Since this system would increase the number of jobs in the city, it would be "good for the environment and good for the economy," Meddin said.

Year-long memberships would be available. Day passes, obtained through credit card machines, would be free for the first half hour, and every additional hour would cost a dollar.

So far, Meddin said, the group has had three hearings in City Council, where feedback has been positive.

Eileen Mathers, an employee at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, said she would find a bike-sharing system useful for her commute since it is equipped with GPS trackers and strong locking devices to prevent theft.

"I occasionally ride my bike to work, and there have been problems with bike thefts," she said. "This would definitely help."

College freshman Jake Werlin used a public-use bike system in Vienna, where it was "very convenient as a tourist to get to see places in a green and cheap way," he said.

"If it became installed, I would subscribe," Werlin added.

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