On a recent trip to Spain I had the pleasure of visiting Seville for a few days. It was even more vibrant than I recalled from my prior visit in 2000. Sitting at cafes I enjoyed the sounds of varied tongues surrounding me—Spanish, German, French, Dutch, some completely unrecognizable. I returned to the gardens and again admired the Mudejar architecture.  But, in the midst of this old city was a new variety of charm: bikes.

There were businessmen on bikes. College students on bikes. Moms, Dads, teens on bikes. Bikes, bikes, bikes.

Sevici, launched in April 2007, is Seville’s thriving public bike program. Taking the lead from other European cities such as Lyon, Paris, and London, the program was implemented to reduce environmental and noise pollution, lessen road traffic, and provide a convenient service to city residents. So far, so good.

The key to the success of Sevici and other thriving bike share programs: smart design.

Employing learnings from the failures and successes of other bike share programs, Sevici offers a service that fits into people’s lives as they are.  It not only makes life easier, it enhances people’s lives by replacing the chore of commuting with a pleasant, refreshing activity.

So. What makes it work?

Convenience. Bring it to the people. Location, availability, and city planning are critical. Seville currently has 250 stations and 2500 bikes available. Stations are located approximately 600 feet apart and in close proximity to public transport stops. That means there’s bound to be a station near all the places you frequent: home, work, school, stores and entertainment.

Security. Eliminate the allure. Many early attempts to roll out community bike programs failed due to skyrocketing theft rates.  By creating a proprietary design with unique parts that cannot be used on other brands or models, stolen bikes have little to no resale value.  Paired with an automated system that only unlocks a bike with the swipe of a subscription card (associated with a credit card) theft is no longer an issue.

Payment. Make it fast and easy. The ability to sign up for a “subscription” makes frequent bike usage a cinch. People can start a subscription from a self-service kiosk at any of the 250 stations around the city. Various types of subscriptions including hourly, weekly and yearly options make it work for anyone interested in borrowing a bike. Simply swipe your card, enter your pin and the system will unlock a bike for you at a specified stall.

Safety. Minimize fear and danger. Throughout Seville’s major streets are dedicated lanes for cyclists. Not just a patch of road with a painted line, but areas set away from auto traffic wide enough to accommodate bikers going in each direction as well as pedestrians. By reducing the danger factor, the barrier of fear is significantly decreased and leads to greater adoption by Seville’s residents and visitors alike.

Comfort. Consider the path. Sevici bikes have adjustable components, front and rear headlights, gears that change easily and a large front basket. These seemingly small details go a long way for someone on their way home from work, stopping at the market and getting home after dark.

Business model. Find funding. Like several other European cities, Seville partnered with an advertising agency to make the program a reality. The agency, JC Decaux, provides the bikes to the city and gains exclusive rights to advertising space on the bikes, and the station structures.
Clearly many European cities have gotten the memo on the success of community bike programs. But what about here in the U.S.? Several American cities have implemented their own versions of bike sharing, but in spring 2008 Washington, D.C. was the first U.S. city to launch a fully automated system. The program, called SmartBike provides 120 bikes at 10 locations throughout central areas of the city.

Will the same model work in a different place for yet another culture? Will Americans embrace bikes as so many Europeans have? It’s hard to say, but surely time will tell.