Learning how to share....not bikes but Segways?

The New York Times (who else? -- I do tend to hit a rut) has a great article about an experiment in New York City with Bike Sharing, where you use a community bike to achieve your errands and get around. A nice alternative to taxi and subway. Successful trials in Barcelona bode well.

A friend of mine in college told me about his experiences in Geneva where community bikes eventually got absconded and become private bikes so they use to paint them ugly colors. In Amsterdam supposedly a bike is stolen on average 5 times. Apocryphal? Maybe.

It's a neat idea, people will sweat a lot, smelly cities, but once people get healthy, it won't be so bad. I just repatriated one of my bikes (it was not treated well) We get addicted to convenience, so it will work for short distances. I think given human nature, changing this to "Segway Sharing" with deposits might work better.

Share your thoughts in the comments?