Bike-sharing for health

September 1st, 2008 by Wendy Young | Filed under Fitness and Sports, Healthy Living, Weight Loss, Women's Health.

Community bicycle programs are not a new idea. This type of program can be found in cities and communities worldwide. The basic idea of the program is fairly simple - many stations across the area hold a communal pool of bikes that can be checked out and returned at any of them. The details change - from unregulated to membership programs, for example - but the idea remains the same: to facilitate increased bike use for health, traffic, and environmental reasons. The practice is still fairly rare in America, but one health care company aims to change that.

Humana Inc. began a bike-sharing program for employees at its Louisville, KY headquarters and now it has branched out into providing 1,000 bikes to each national party convention. Over 2,500 employees have signed up for the system where they can:

They can check out a bike — or more than one — from kiosks around the city with a company-issued swipe card, and use it for commuting, personal errands or fun.

The bikes come with built-in navigation systems and can track how many miles have been ridden.

The company is now opening up the program idea to its clients. You may see it come somewhere near you soon!

Cycling has similar benefits to other exercise habits but may be more likely to become a long-term habit if you can use it to replace transportation you would already have to take. You can walk up stairs instead of taking the elevator, but how much more benefit can you gain if you bike a mile or two to work or the store instead of jumping in the car?