Assembled in the USA from 100% Chinese parts.

If I were to speculate for a moment, it would appear that some operators may be realising there is potentially a commercial value in the data – maybe in controlling that data, they can ensure it is only viewed within the context of an official app, be it chargeable, served with ads, or available as an exclusive value-added benefit to annual members. There’s nothing wrong with this – after all, like most public transport, its very difficult for bike share schemes to be commercially viable on their own – if you don’t quantify the social, environmental and touristic benefit they bring to a city. Any extra potential revenue is important. But it’s a shame – my map could have been so much more interesting.

North America seems to have the right idea – the data is free and easy to access for almost all the schemes across the US and Canada. In Washington DC they even publish the bike breakdown rates and reasons. And there is one good piece of news from Europe. London has, earlier this week, released the official feed – and API documentation for their own, hugely popular, bike share – Barclays Cycle Hire. It appears both on the transport authority’s website and in the city’s open data catalogue. While it is not perfect – you still need to sign up to see the data, and I’m still waiting on my approval – it is encouraging that my home city is, unlike most places on the continent, going in the right direction.