Several years ago, I got a chance to spend some time in Amsterdam, where a couple of Dutch friends exposed me to the best their city had to offer.

That list included—but was not limited to—tulips, the Van Gogh museum [1], Nutella for breakfast [2], and the city's bike share program. That was the first time I'd ever heard about community bike programs [3], and the concept blew me away.

Imagine being able to pick up a bike when you need it, ride it to your destination, then leave it for the next person who needs it. How cool is that? But being the hopelessly cynical college student that I was, I figured that cool ideas like that only happened in Europe.

Fortunately, I might be wrong. Bike share programs are emerging throughout the United States, especially in congested urban areas.

In fact, there's an experimental program in New York [4], Austin [5] has had a successful program for years, and there's a program in Portland [6] that's been running (more or less) since the mid-1990s. Apparently, several programs suffered from theft and vandalism. Newer programs, however, use personal credit cards as insurance and anti-theft devices to reduce stolen bikes.

Currently, there's a bold new bike initiative in Paris [7]. Anyone with a credit card can pick up one of the 10,000 bikes at 750 stations [7] throughout the city. The stations are located near Metro stops and around highly trafficked areas.

I started thinking how this might work in smaller cities throughout the country. For instance, if there was a bike station near my home, I can think of all kinds of situations where I'd prefer to ride a bike.

For instance, I'd ride a bike to grab dinner or catch a movie on the neighborhood strip that's about a mile-and-half away. I'd ride to shopping centers, bookstores, hotspots near the University, and to my favorite brew pub downtown. All of these areas are within a five mile radius from my home.

For me, the real issue is that I don't feel safe riding in traffic. I'm not comfortable when I'm surrounded by buses, trucks, SUVs, and people chatting on their cellphones as they drive. But if I felt safer, I'd definitely ride my bike for quick errands and day-to-day life.

That said, however, I'd drive if I had to travel further than about five miles, or if the weather was bad. I think it could work—on a limited scale—in a town the size of Albuquerque. I bet that it'd be popular in certain parts of town.

What do you think? Would bike sharing be a realistic option in your city or town? What issues would have to be faced?