TECHNOLOGY FOR CHANGE

IT Solution Pumps Up the Pedal Power

Dennis McCafferty | Date: 06-18-10 | Comments

More Denver residents have options to get around on bikes now, thanks to an innovative civic effort by a Colorado software company.

Colorado has cultivated a reputation as a destination state for fitness-minded people, and biking is one of the more popular ways to stay active there. The city of Boulder, for example, was recently listed as the third-best "Bike-Friendly" city in America by Bicycling magazine. The magazine notes that 95 percent of Boulder's arterial streets are considered suited for cyclists, as is the surrounding greenbelt, which contains 120 miles of trails. Denver was ranked No. 12 by the magazine, which praised the city for its ample bike parking, impressive trail system and vibrant cycling community.

So it only makes sense that Amadeus Consulting, a custom software development company from Boulder, is working with Denver locals to transform the "Mile-High" city into an even more bike-friendly place. Amadeus has developed an enterprise solution that has enabled Denver to launch "B-cycle"�claimed to be the first-ever large-scale municipal bike-sharing program in the United States.

The effort has resulted in the installation of dozens of bike-station kiosks in downtown Denver, Cherry Creek and Denver University. Using tools such as Microsoft's Silverlight�a development platform for interactive applications for Web, desktop and mobile devices�Amadeus developed a kiosk interface, customer Web services, Web-based administrative tools and an iPhone app. Members of Denver's biking community have since dropped off and picked up the designated red B-cycle bikes at bike center locations. They can log into the program, view their bike usage and access trip details, such as length, time and even how much carbon will be offset in the process. The iPhone app allows riders to locate these bike centers, as well as access their B-cycle Web account.

Since the B-cycle program was launched in Denver on April 22 (which was Earth Day), it's grown significantly in terms of popularity: There are more than 2,655 cyclists using the program, and they have launched more than 300 iPhone app downloads. They've burned nearly 1.3 million calories and earned over 30,500 carbon offset "points" in the process.

Lending administrative support, the Amadeus solution allows B-cycle managers to oversee a number of business processes in automated fashion, including bike inventory, servicing and user stats. The company also provides a secure, custom e-commerce engine to handle B-cycle's payment transactions. Given the success of this technology model, B-cycle is looking to expand this program.

"This bike-sharing program is revolutionizing how people get around the city of Denver," says Lisa Calkins, CEO for Amadeus. "Our workplace thrives on a culture of sustainability, so we were thrilled to work on such a like-minded project that promotes our commitment to the environment. We're looking forward to seeing this take off in other cities and change the way people get around."