Melbourne Bike Share
Melbourne Bike Share is a bicycle sharing system that serves the central business district of Melbourne, Australia. The stations and bicycles are owned by the government and operated in a public-private partnership with RACV. Launched in 2010, the network utilizes a system designed by Montreal-based Bixi with 600 bicycles operating from 51 stations.[1] Melbourne Bike Share is one of two such systems in Australia.
Melbourne Bike Share has experienced low ridership in comparison to other bicycle sharing networks in operation around the world. As of May 2011, users made about 13,000 trips each month, short of the goal of 25,000 trips per month.[2] Observers have noted that local law requires all cyclists to wear helmets, which suppresses the number of people who can regularly use the system. Melbourne and Brisbane are two of a few Cities in the world with a bicycle sharing network that have a mandatory helmet law - Seattle is another example.[3][4] In November 2010, the Victoria state government began offering helmet rentals at selected stations in an attempt to increase both ridership and helmet usage.[5]
To counter continued poor usage, the Victorian Government decided in May 2013 to trial free helmet sharing by attaching the helmets to the handlebars of a portion of the bike share fleet.
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