On your bike: the best and the worst of city cycle schemes
(The Guardian Money News)

As bike-sharing in London hits a record high, we explore schemes across the globeThis year is the 10th ­anniversary of the world´s first large-scale bike-sharing scheme, the Velib in Paris, whose immediate success - 20 million users in its first year - prompted cities across the world to wheel out their own copies. A decade later there are 1,000 of these schemes, from Milton Keynes to the medina in Marrakech, with 17 across the UK and more opening this year. Some have back-pedalled: Seattle will shut its Pronto scheme in March, a victim of hills, rain, budget cuts and the city´s mandatory helmet law, while in Spain cash-strapped local authorities have put the brakes on half of the country´s 130 schemes. Continue reading...