How to build a better bike-share program

When corporate owners ditched New Orleans's bike share, the community stepped up to rebuild it with a focus on equity.

Of the nearly 300 bike-share and scooter-share programs in North America, more than half are privately owned, a figure that is quickly growing. That leaves most micromobility programs vulnerable to market whims, a precarious position for a mode of transportation upon which many people depend. Lime’s departure could have been the end of bike sharing in New Orleans. Instead, Coats began devising a plan to bring it back.

But this time, he decided, Blue Bikes would be run by the community it served.