Could not agree more on the need, pls see this site for inspiration. The CarSharing Association | The CarSharing Association works to maximize the environmental and social impact of the carsharing industry. Member-organizations are committed to providing sustainable, transit-oriented urban mobility for the benefit of . For sure it could be done through working with some of the hundreds local bikers clubs. Dealers interested in partnering up could have a pivotal role to play for pick-up / maintenance / drop-off points. Think of U-Haul for instance, I wonder how they got their trailer business going... no publicity or comment on personal experience here, but the idea is simple and has to remain simple as such.
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The way I see it there could be multiple options from the personalized kind of "coach surfing" approach in which one would actually lend his/her personal bike or second bike to a perfect stranger, to a more sophisticated system, yet kept simple, in the form of an international cooperative to which members buy a share as a means to capitalize and cover for purchase and operation costs, including licensing and insurance. A variety of schemes can be thought out taking into consideration the type of bikes, seasonal factors, distance and else..

Cooperatives are widely popular in Quebec and now in the rest of Canada as well, so the extent that whoever is interested in building-up such a system would definitely learn a lot on best practices by looking closely at the modus operandi of each organization member of the "CarSharing Association". While this would take us away from the highly personalized approach, it would possibly prove being a cheaper alternative to bike rental. The good thing about cooperatives is that they don't have to post profits, they have to improve the service and make it widely available to shareholders, in other words, no de-capitalization to the profit of stockholders.

I once let a friend go on a bike I previously owned and he crashed it. I lost a bike and a friend; he only had minor injuries that is not the problem, it's rather that he lied on the circumstances and never paid it back either. That's the problem with bikes, lending a bike now does feel odd, sort of a drift away somehow, at least for me.

This is an inspiring thread, I'd like to turn this idea into reality.
/C