Skip to Content
Streetsblog New York City home
Streetsblog New York City home
Log In
Streetsblog

There’s a Difference Between Bike Share and Bike Rental

Dallas is in the process of rolling out a "bike-share" system. According to the Dallas Morning News, the city installed the first two stations in a local park this week. The project got a boost from a $125,000 grant, and the plan is to expand the system piece by piece.

Dallas' new "bike share" system won't function like this one pictured in Denver. Photo: Wikipedia
Dallas's new "bike-share" system won't function like this one pictured in Denver. Photo: Wikipedia
false

But due to its pricing scheme and location, this type of bike share shouldn't be confused with large-scale systems in DC and New York, or even in Cincinnati. Patrick Kennedy writes in his column for D Magazine that Dallas's new system is more like bike rental.

The fundamental [requirements] of bike share to be a success:  1) It’s in places of need -- where people live and where they work 2) It gets people out of cars -- meaning a healthier, energy and spatial efficient way to travel and 3) it is membership based. Making money is rarely a concern because the positive externalities are worth it. It is seen as an investment in transportation (for a decimal point for what the Trinity Toll Road is to cost) and increasingly it is seen as a necessary investment to attract college grads (at which Dallas is struggling).

The Dallas bike share system doesn’t do any of that. It’s for visitors to Fair Park to ride around a bit. And for that, it’s a great asset, but as Paul Sims pointed out on Twitter that is bike rental. Not bike share. It is not transportation, but recreation. So we should call it that. The ambiguity could hurt the effort to scale the system up citywide.

What hurts the potential expansion of the system more is its pricing structure, which is rental-based rather than sharing-based. The Dallas system prices the first half hour the most, at $5 for 30 minutes. Then $2.50 each additional 30, punishing ridership while encouraging longer usage of the bike.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog New York City

Thursday’s Headlines: Tisch Comes Clean Edition

NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch finally commented on her department's crackdown on cyclists. Plus more news.

May 15, 2025

Tisch Rap: NYPD Criminal E-bike Summonses Surge 4,000 Percent

The NYPD wrote twice as many criminal court summonses to e-bike riders in two weeks than it wrote all of last year — an astronomical increase that is a remnant of a repudiated racially biased police practice.

May 15, 2025

Quiet Desperation: NYPD’s Tisch Didn’t Tell DOT About Her Crackdown on Cycling

The NYPD commissioner did not inform her counterpart at the Department of Transportation that police would begin issuing criminal summonses to cyclists.

May 15, 2025

Not the Same Ol’ MTA: Cost of Upgrading Subway Signals is Cut in Half

A new design-build strategy, plus removing old signals fully, is credited for cutting costs in half. Take that, Sean Duffy.

May 15, 2025

Lander, Labor Activists Slam Cuomo After ‘Goliath’ DoorDash Gives $1M

The donation from the the app company is seen as a way of influencing a possible future mayor to side with the tech giant.

May 14, 2025
See all posts