Coming to four U.S. cities this spring, Pace joins the bike-share boom This spring, a new type of bike-share system, a hybrid of traditional systems such as Citibike and newer dockless fleets, will hit the streets in four U.S. cities, aiming to create a better, more affordable, public cycling system.
Known as Pace, the system features bikes that can be locked to official Pace bike racks, as well as any other existing racks, via a Bluetooth-enabled smart lock. Developed by Zagster, a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company that currently operates more than 200 programs in 35 states, the new hybrid system aims to provide controlled flexibility. Simply requiring bikes to lock up, the company asserts, will make a big difference.
?We are dockless without the drawbacks,? says Zagster CEO Timothy Ericson. ?If you?re a city and you want to bring in bike-share, you used to have to choose between the expensive dock-based model, or these unsustainable companies with loose bikes that are spread all over the streets and lost.?
Alex Contell

Dockless bike-share has become a hot trend in transportation and startup circles, with new companies launching in cities across the U.S., including Seattle and possibly even New York. Traditional, dock-based bike-share continues to expand. Citibike saw a record year in New York City in 2016, logging 14 million trips, a 40 percent increase. But the promised flexibility and affordability of GPS-based dockless systems, which la...