Bcycle

In 2007, the founding partners of BCycle, Trek and health care insurance company Humana, launched their bike sharing venture with the nation's largest ever temporary bike sharing program at the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado. Called Freewheelin, developed within Humana's Innovation Center. This program made 1,000 bikes available to the delegates at both the Democratic and Republican National Conventions. The programs proved so successful that the Democratic host committee selected bike sharing as a special legacy program to receive a donation to launch the country's first smart bike sharing system.

Following the Democratic National Convention, Trek, Humana and advertising agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky formed B-Cycle, LLC to be led by Humana Innovation Executives, Nate Kvamme, Jacalyn Scribner and Andrew Papa. The chosen leadership team was instrumental in building Freewheelin from ideation through commercialization within Humana's Innovation Center. The initiative for B-Cycle was to develop a technologically and visually appealing bike share system. The joint venture worked with a non-profit created to operate the system, Denver Bike Sharing, operating as Denver B-cycle, to launch with 500 bikes and 40 stations in Denver on Earth Day, April 22, 2010. In 2018, the eighth year of Denver B-cycle, it received a US$400,000 subsidy from the City of Denver government.

In October 2024, BCycle was acquired by Bicycle Transit Systems, making it the only vertically integrated docked bike share company in North America.

As of January 2024, B-cycle has bicycle sharing systems in the following areas:

United States

Austin, Texas

Aventura, Florida

Bentonville, Arkansas

Controversy and competition

Denver, Colorado

In 2018, controversy emerged on the Denver City Council, with criticism that "B-cycle is mainly in areas where it's white and wealthy and not in neighborhoods of color and working-class neighborhoods where transit is a need." Substantial competition to dockable bicycle transportation has emerged from unsubsidized "[d]ockless bike and scooter companies have flocked to Denver," including Jump bicycles and Lime scooters.

In mid-November 2019, the city announced the end of the B-cycle operation, with 700 bikes and all stations to be removed by the end of January 2020.