Bike sharing is all the rage in Europe. Now, Washington D.C., Chicago and San Francisco are among a handful of cities implementing bike-sharing programs in an effort to tackle traffic problems, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and boost eco-cachet. Learn more about bike sharing, and watch a video about one of the first bike sharing programs in North America.

Large-scale bike sharing programs have had a rocky start in the U.S., with Charlottesville, VA and Portland, OR’s early-adoption programs running into problems with theft and abandonment (2002 and 1994, respectively). But critical mass of these kinds of programs is growing. And the price of gas can only bolster acceptance and use-levels.

One of the people interviewed in the NewsHour piece is Paul DeMaio, who runs the excellent site on the issue, The Bike-Sharing Blog. He’s the best source of updates on civic bike programs not just in the U.S., but internationally. He recently posted about how the upcoming Democratic AND Republican conventions will have their own bike-sharing to cut down on traffic during the convention, see his post here.