Big Banks Embrace Bike Share Programs Using Tap & Go Payment System

The Citi Bikes, with the company’s logo across the frame and the top of the back wheel, can be used for up to 45 minutes without an additional charge — provided a rider has signed up for a $95 annual membership. For daily use, with an expected base price of $9.95, or weekly use, expected to cost $25, riders can travel for 30 minutes without an added fee. [Source]

Big Money Embraces New York Bike Share

May 7, 2012

Velo Mondial - Citigroup Inc. (C) agreed to pay $41 million to sponsor New York City’s bicycle-rental program, which Mayor Michael Bloomberg said will be the largest such system in the U.S. when it begins in July.

The “Citi Bike” program, presented by the mayor and Citigroup Chief Executive Officer Vikram Pandit at City Hall today, will offer 10,000 bikes branded with the New York-based bank’s logo at 600 docking stations in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Long Island City, Queens.

New York will share any profits from the bike rentals with Portland, Oregon-based Alta Bicycle Share, chosen as its operator in September.

The bike-share program, first advocated by the city Transportation Department in 2009, would provide a low-cost transit alternative in a city where almost half the workforce lives within five miles (eight kilometers) of its place of work, the department said in a planning document.

MasterCard Inc. (MA) CEO Ajay Banga, also at City Hall, said his company would pay $6.5 million to provide bike-share stations with “PayPass Tap & Go” payment points and traditional magnetic-stripe terminals as part of its “Priceless New York” promotion of events and attractions for residents and tourists. Similar systems exist in Paris, with 20,600 bicycles; Barcelona, which has 6,000; Hangzhou, China, which offers as many as 60,600, and Washington’s 1,500-bike system. Read also NYC

Tap & Go^™ with MasterCard^® PayPass

MasterCard - Using your Debit MasterCard with PayPass is like having the exact change wherever you go. PayPass uses 'contactless' technology so you can just 'tap' your card on the PayPass reader and 'go' as soon as you see the green light or hear the beep. For purchases of $100 or less, there's no need to swipe or insert your card, sign your name or enter a PIN!

It's a fast, convenient and secure way to pay whenever you grab a coffee, buy lunch or make everyday purchases. And MasterCard Zero Liability protects you from unauthorised transactions.

Tap & Go with MasterCard PayPass is as secure as using your current card in the usual ways. To find out more about contactless technology, using PayPass visit MasterCard.com.au

Click here to find participating PayPass merchants.

Is a New Way of Life Emerging in the USA?

May 7, 2012

Velo Mondial - “Unfortunately for car companies,” Jordan Weissmann noted in TheAtlantic.com a couple weeks back, “today's teens and twenty-somethings don't seem all that interested in buying a set of wheels. They're not even particularly keen on driving.”

Now a major new report from Benjamin Davis and Tony Dutzik at the Frontier Group and Phineas Baxandall, at the U.S. PIRG Education Fund, documents this unprecedented trend across a wide variety of indicators. Their two big findings about young people and driving:

- The average annual number of vehicle miles traveled by young people (16 to 34-year-olds) in the U.S. decreased by 23 percent between 2001 and 2009, falling from 10,300 miles per capita to just 7,900 miles per capita in 2009.

- The share of 14 to 34-year-olds without a driver’s license increased by 5 percentage points, rising from 21 percent in 2000 to 26 percent in 2010, according to the Federal Highway Administration.

Young people are also making more use of transit, bikes, and foot power to get around. In 2009, 16 to 34-year-olds took 24 percent more bike trips than they took in 2001. They walked to their destinations 16 percent more often, while their passenger miles on transit jumped by 40 percent. Part of the reason for this shift is financial, but also a new way of life emerges. Read on here.