Whilst there has been growing attention paid to bicycle sharing schemes around the world, one of the biggest challenges they face is that they rely exclusively on the self-motivation of the users, reassuring themselves as to the health and mental outlook benefits of biking as an alternative to driving.
An innovation from a New York based company, called CityRyde, delivers an added benefit to cyclists. By tracking the distance each trip takes, the company delivers carbon credits to the calculated carbon reductions of the bike transport, as opposed to driving a car the same distance.
CityRyde is the first sustainable transport organisation to have submitted its proprietary software model, called Inspire, which verifies and certifies these bike-generated carbon credits, to the Voluntary Carbon Standard. CityRyde hopes that bike sharing providers will use Inspire to generate carbon credits that can be sold in the over-the-counter voluntary carbon market, giving cities and towns that implement bike sharing a new revenue stream.
We also came across a truly inspirational video of Groningen rail station in the Netherlands, where there are enough parking spaces for 10,000 bikes. Recommended viewing for all!