If you’ve ever been stuck walking a long distance in a city simply because there are no other options, you probably fantasized about hopping on a bike and cutting your commute time in half. Whether or not you own a bike, that fantasy is now a reality.

Bike share systems have been growing in popularity across the United States. The concept is simple. There are racks of bikes set up around the city, and people can rent a bike for a short period of time, even if only to get from point A to point B.

You can pay by the hour, and you can drop your bike off at any other location.

Here in Boston, the Hubway bike share system has become a force to be reckoned with. There are Hubway stations all over Boston and the surrounding areas.

They even just built one outside my own apartment, which got me thinking about the benefits and the flaws of the system.

Obviously, there are many benefits to bike shares. However, that’s not to say they don’t come with its disadvantages. I’ve been weighing the advantages and disadvantages of bike shares every since the Hubway came to Boston, and here’s what I’ve come up with.

The Pros of Bike Shares

It’s not hard to come up with the obvious benefits of a bike sharing system. Disadvantages aside, your city would greatly benefit from installing one.
 

Improved Air Quality

Bike share systems are great for the environment. Bikes obviously produce no emissions, and we can only assume that the people riding them would have hopped in a cab or a bus instead.

When tourists visit a city, they can either bring their cars or take public transit in. If they have their cars, they’ll drive around for their entire trip, causing more traffic and extra pollution.

If they don’t bring their cars, they’ll probably take cabs, since they’re unfamiliar with the subway system. Bike shares give these people the option to experience the city by bike, which is both less expensive and more convenient.

Even commuters cut down on pollution by using bike shares. With bike share stations all over the city, they might be more tempted to give it a try. There is less commitment to using a bike share than buying a nice bicycle, so they might leave their car at home for the very first time. This option also leads to the next benefit of bike shares.

Convenience

Bike share systems are most definitely convenient. If you commute to work in a city, you know that there are sometimes public transportation dead zones. You might get as close as you can to your office, but there is still than 15-minute walk down to your door.

15 minutes might not seem like a lot in the long run, but when you’re rushing to the office at 8:00am, it can feel like a lifetime. Bike share systems completely eliminate this problem. You can hope off the train, hop on a bike, and make a beeline for your office. If you’re lucky, there might even be another station around your destination, so you’ll only pay for the 15 minutes.

This dead zone is called the “last mile” problem in urban development. One of the major benefits of bike shares is that they eliminate the problem by giving people an option for that last leg of the commute.