Two years ago we reported on Lyon’s city bike hire program. A user pays version of the garishly coloured schemes of similar ilk that have been available in Northern Europe for years. Then we observed London, Paris and Barcelona had rolled out similar programs. (Petz did a recap here). Toronto didn’t want to be outdone, so had the Community Bicycle Network, which ran it’s Yellow Bikes, until operations were suspended this year, though we think the University of Calgary might still have their U-bike program to help Canada save face. Anyhow, New York is itching to get a piece of the action, so this month the Forum For Urban Design, in concert with Storefront for Art and Architecture have organised a “splashy exhibition of European bike-share programs, running a free-bike-rental experiment, and hosting a design charette.” What’s the attraction you might ask. Well, the organising team reckon with the city owning up “that subways are at or above capacity” people might be interested in a scheme that can deliver quick, health-inducing transport that costs less than 50 cents per trip and can be managed via mobile phone calls. Get the the good chain lube beginning Sat 7th through to 11th of July 2007. Just a few days before Paris will apparently launched their new scheme, now with 10,000 bikes at 750 stations. Outplayed by the French? Come on NYers, head along to this important event, and up the ante. ::NY Bike Share.