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Community bike programs appear in all shapes and sizes in cities throughout the world. The central concept of these programs is the offering of free (or nearly free) access to bicycles for inner-city transportation. This serves to reduce the use of automobiles for short trips inside the city and cuts down on traffic congestion and air-pollution.
Though there are many variations on this concept, one of the more common manifestations is a system of "hubs". In this version of the program, bicycles are kept at volunteer-run "hubs" or "kiosks" throughout the city. Individuals registered with the program can present their membership cards at any of the hubs to check out a bike for a specified period of time.
One of the first community bike projects in the United States was started in Portland, Oregon in the mid-1990s and took the approach of simply releasing a number of bicycles to the streets for un-restricted use. This program failed initially due to theft and vandalism of the bicycles.