Shared Bicycle Rental Programs and Helmets
Summary: There are good questions about shared bike rental systems and helmet requirements. The success of the
movement could be hampered by requiring helmets. But head injuries could discourage users as well. Reported crash rates
are very low for all the programs. A 2014 study showed an increase in the proportion of head
injuries after bikeshare programs were implemented, but a large reduction in total injuries. At present, bike share users
are following the same helmet regulations as other riders in each community. Seattle had a program that required helmets,
and provided $2 helmet rentals, but it has been closed. Vancouver's Mobi system provides helmets with the bikes. And a shared ebike company called Wheels is equipping their bikes with a helmet that locks to the rear rack. You peel off a layer of the liner to have a fresh interior.
In cities throughout the world new bike share rental systems (cycle hire schemes in UK English, Velib in French) are
being installed. The pioneer was La Rochelle, France, in 1974, and others have started up since. But the movement has
taken off following the very visible success of the 2007 Parisian
Velib system. The Paris system now has more than 20,000 bikes and 1,639
stations. On a peak day in 2015 it logged 176.000 rides. More than 100 programs are now operating in more than 150 cities
around the world. Bikes are picked up and dropped off at automated stations, typically in central business districts.
After membership fees, most rides are free or very cheap for the first 30 minutes and more expensive after that,
encouraging their use for short rides between their urban stations.
Rental bikes have always raised a helmet question, since the renter may not have a helmet with them. Shops generally
provide rental helmets to their customers, but an automated bike stand on the street poses a different problem. The
systems are designed to appeal to casual renters for short trips, including those who did not plan to rent a shared bike
when they left home and would not have a helmet along. Requiring those renters to use a helmet would discourage them from
using the system. Early adopters were likely to be experienced bicyclists, and many had helmets. An estimated 15% would
not even use the bike share system if they did not have a helmet along. But the real success of bikeshare comes from
attracting new users who are not habitual riders, and from casual trips that often are not planned in advance.
Most rental system sponsors are recommending but not requiring helmets. Where there are local helmet laws they do not
usually apply to adults, who are the typical users of an urban shared bike system. The notable exception in the US was
Seattle, where the Pronto program opened in 2014. Pronto provided rental bike helmets for $2. The helmets were sanitized
between users. Pronto was scrapped at the end of March, 2017, for
variety of reasons, including the
helmet requirement. Another article concludes that low ridership killed the system, and lists
five problems, again
including the helmet law.
Another exception is Melbourne, (see below) where the law requires helmets for all ages. Brisbane is considering a system
as well. Since most of the systems are recent, time will tell if usage rates for the ones in localities requiring adult
helmets will differ solely because of the helmet requirement.
Mexico City had adopted a mandatory helmet law, but an article on
the One Street
site says they repealed it in February of 2010 in an effort to support their shared bicycle rental program, Ecobici.
This is the only report we have seen of a law repealed to facilitate shared biking.
Vancouver launched their Mobi system in 2016. Each bicycle has a helmet attached. There are sanitary liners available at
the bike stations. There is no charge for using the helmet, and the rider just locks it up with the bike when the ride is
over.
There is more info here.
Bike sharing programs in the US are concerned about the legal liabilities of both the program and the helmet question. In
our society, anyone head-injured on a bicycle without a helmet whose family is desperate for funds to pay medical bills
and support the injured one finds an attorney who sues everyone in sight. That may include the bike share program, the
bike supplier, the car driver involved, the ambulance crew, bystanders who tried to help, the hospital and more. Fault is
not an issue, it's just a search for deep pockets and those with liability insurance coverage. Helmet companies rise and
fall with the skill of their attorneys and the ability of their staff to support lawsuits. The shared bike programs who
advocate helmets but do not supply them could be particularly vulnerable to accusations that they knew helmets were an
essential piece of safety gear but did not supply one. Again, time and court precedents will tell.
Boston has launched a comprehensive bike safety program including driver education, cyclist education and aggressive
helmet promotion to complement their 57 new miles of bike lanes and their shared bicycle program. There is no adult
helmet law there. A study has shown that crashes are down as cycling goes up, although the cause and effect may not be
clear.
First injury studies appear - 2014
The
first injury study published in a peer-reviewed
journal appeared in mid-2014. The study concluded:
"In PBSP cities, the proportion of head injuries among bicycle-related injuries increased from 42.3% before PBSP
implementation to 50.1% after... Conclusions: Results suggest that steps should be taken to make helmets available with
PBSPs. Helmet availability should be incorporated into PBSP planning and funding, not considered an afterthought
following implementation."
Changes in all cycling injuries in both the shared bike program cities and the control
cities turn out to be more important than the rise in the proportion of head injuries. In cities after bikeshare
implementation, all cyclist injuries declined 28% and head injuries declined 14%. In cities without bikeshare, all
injuries increased 6% and head injuries declined 4%. A lot depends on what you assume the shared bike programs were
responsible for, and what other factors were at work, such as improved bike accommodation and local safety programs. The
study does not take exposure into account. And the numbers include all bicycle injuries: mountain biking, road racing,
fast training rides on road bikes, BMX, kids riding, as well as transportation cycling and bikeshare. In short, there is
no way to isolate the effect of the bikeshare programs on injuries. Most bicycle advocates believe strongly that injury
rates decline with increasing numbers of cyclists.
Although head injuries might have been further reduced in bikeshare cities if every rider had worn a helmet, the shared
bike program might not have worked with helmet requirements, and the overall injury reduction might or might not have
occurred.
The analysis uses only two years of injury data before the shared programs were implemented and one year after, although
annual variations are normal in bike injury stats.
Our conclusion is that it is still very early to be trying to analyze the effects of bikeshare programs, and we need to
be careful interpreting any statistics. The recommendation to make helmets available as part of bikeshare programs makes
sense to us. If injuries are reduced but the head injuries are much more severe it raises further questions.
Folding Helmets?
Folding a helmet can make it easier to carry, although it still requires the same volume of
impact foam. New folding helmet designs have appeared on the European market and now some that meet the US CPSC standard
are available. There should be more folding designs to come as the market for them increases. See our page on
folding helmets for more. Folded or not, the helmet is another item for a pedestrian to carry, unless
planning in advance to use a shared rental bicycle. That may not be a problem for backpack users, but those with purses
or briefcases usually have to carry the helmet elsewhere unless it folds.
Rental Helmets
We have a page up on
rental helmets with some information on what
commercial rental companies do to provide helmets to their customers. The Pronto Seattle bike share program gave away
helmets to new members during the first months, and then rented them for $2. The helmets were sanitized after each
rental.
London Cycle Hire
The very successful Barclays Cycle Hire scheme in London (also known as the Boris Bike Scheme
for strongly pro-bike London Mayor Boris Johnson) logged more than 750,000 trips in less than two months, according to
Transport for London. For the 6,000 bicycles that works out to just over two trips per day per bicycle. A spokesperson
for TfL was quoted in the September 28, 2010 issue of the London
Telegraph saying "There have been five incidents
since the scheme launched on 30 July where a cycle hire user has been injured." That would be an astounding bike safety
record anywhere in the world, but it is not likely that TfL has good statistics yet on how many injuries there have been
presenting at hospital emergency rooms, and that they are stating how many reports they have received.
After press reports of two head injuries on London scheme bikes, a spokesperson for the non-profit,
Brake, was quoted in the
Telegraph article calling for helmet use by those hiring
cycles, provoking a reaction from those opposed to helmet laws. If the actual numbers were as low as TfL announced for
750,000 trips, they would have a point.
Given the vocal opposition to helmet laws in the UK, there should be more recent references in
this Google search.
Melbourne Bike Share
Melbourne's system was launched in April of 2010. It is sized at 50 bike stations in the
central business district and 600 bicycles. As with all other Australian states, Victoria requires helmets for bicycle
riders of all ages. The sponsors have given thought to the helmet question:
"In line with Victorian road laws, the use of helmets is compulsory for all users. Helmets are available for free as part
of corporate memberships and for purchase with individual annual subscriptions. Helmets are also available at selected
local Central Business District retail outlets located near the bike stations, with some retailers offering discounts of
up to 20 per cent for Melbourne Bike Share users."
"Helmets are not supplied with the bikes. The main reason for this is due to safety. We cannot compromise on the safety
of our users; if we were to provide helmets with the bikes we would need to check every helmet after each ride to ensure
they are not damaged - and are clean. Those using the scheme will need to bring their own helmet or purchase one from a
handy location near the bike station. In addition, subscribers to Melbourne Bike Share will have the option of purchasing
a low cost helmet with their annual membership."
The Melbourne system is about one-tenth the size of London's. It was launched in winter, with anti-helmet law proponents
gleefully declaring ridership to be a failure, but the test of acceptance comes with time.
Melbourne has announced a plan to provide inexpensive helmets through vending machines and local stores close to their
bikeshare locations. The helmets will reportedly sell for $5 each, making the cost of a helmet and shared bike ride less
than a taxi ride in most cases.
Here is
an assessment of helmet law impact on the Melbourne system based on interviews in 2022 with 21 bike riders.
provided free loaner helmets as the country's mandatory helmet law deadline approached in September 2018. Reportedly not
many cyclists were using them.
were concerned about the 2023 all-ages helmet law. But the law has no punishment for not wearing a helmet.
Recommendation that Queensland suspend helmet rule
Brisbane's shared bike program has experienced low usage,
blamed by some on the compulsory helmet law. In 2013 the report of
a Queensland parliamentary committee recommended a trial suspension of the helmet rule for those 16 and over riding
on trails and low speed roads, or using shared bike program bicycles.
Vending Machines
While Melbourne had the first helmet vending machines on the street for a shared bike program, a
team of MIT students calling their company
HelmetHub developed a much
more ambitious design. It was compact and solar-powered to fit in the limited space available for most shared bike
stations. The first ones were installed in Boston in 2013. They had $2 rental or $20 purchase options. We don't know the
current status of the effort.
The Wheels shared ebike company includes helmets
Wheels is a rideshare company that rents you an electric bike. On the rear carrier of the e-bike is a helmet. You unlock the helmet with your phone app and use it for free during the ride, relocking it on the bike when you are finished. The inside of the helmet has layers of biodegradable liner, and you peel off a layer before you put it on to have a fresh helmet. For an introductory period Wheels gives you a 20 per cent discount on your ride if you use the free helmet. The concept is extremely well thought-out. We don't find their site online any more.
We have not seen the Wheels helmet in person, and the web description is minimal, but it is obviously a very well-rounded urban/skate-style model. There are no vents, probably to accommodate the peel-off liner. Since this is an ebike, that should not pose a problem for most riders for short rides in most climates. We are speculating that the peel-off layers may even provide some rotational energy mitigation, and the smooth round exterior is the shape we think is optimal for that. No helmet can fit all heads, of course.
Other new helmets?
In October of 2010 the Swedish firm Hövding announced a new product in the form of a
collar that deploys an airbag around the head. The London bicycle press immediately asked if it would be ideal for shared
bike users. At a cost of $500, we doubt that it will be ideal for anything, but time will tell, and at least somebody is
applying out-of-the-box thinking to the problem of providing head protection for riders of shared bicycles. The Swedish company folded in 2023 in the face of a recall.
There is also
a design for a
helmet with a corrugated, cardboard-like liner that the inventor and a company
formed to commercialize the design think might be ideal for shared use program vending machines. The liner would be
recyclable, unlike EPS, but the
only model we have seen on the market was from a licensee
of the technology, and it used EPS along with the cardboard. It has been discontinued.
Major helmet manufacturers recognize the potential for sales of bikeshare helmets, and are working on their own models.
They will have a difficult time maintaining quality and meeting standards while achieving the price point necessary for this market.