For three years, Jason Meinzer and Timothy Ericson have carved out a place as the leading innovators of a concept that is still not widely employed in the U.S. While bike-sharing has thrived in Europe in places like Paris and Copenhagen, it is just now that CityRyde, the Philadelphia-based company that has quickly earned a reputation as the world's leading bike-sharing consultancy, seems poised to lead a revolution stateside and beyond.

Earlier this week, CityRyde submitted a methodology for determining greenhouse gas emission reductions through bicycle sharing projects to the Voluntary Carbon Standard, the global program for approval of credible voluntary carbon offsets. Meinzer estimates the first-of-its-kind methodology, in the form of CityRyde's Inspire software that's three years in the making, has a better than 90 percent chance of approval, paving the way for an enormous shift in transportation.

"This methodology is backed by key support and refined by a slew of stakeholders and key thought leaders in this space," says Meinzer, who co-founded CityRyde with Ericson in late 2007 not long after Ericson was in Paris for the launch of the world's largest bike-sharing system (Velib).

"Most all risk has been mitigated over the last three years."

A laser sharp focus on incorporating carbon finance into bike-sharing has contributed to Inspire, which is a completely new way of generating cash flow for bike-sharing projects. The software allows bike shares to track, certify and monetize carbon offset credits gained through the use of shared bicycles. Incentivizing bike sharing is expected to help the concept take root in the U.S.--CityRyde has been working with New York City, the latest big city to commit and which recently issued an RFP for a bike-sharing implementation that is projected to grow to 50,000 bicycles. CityRyde estimates its methodology could bring in more than $1 million annually for a bike share that size. What's more, Inspire is scalable to uses beyond bike-sharing. (A feasibility study released earlier this year indicated Philadelphia was well-suited for a bike-sharing program)

Since Inspire's release, CityRyde has received much validation in the form of a flood of calls seeking more information and collaboration opportunities. The company recently closed a $375,000 round of funding and a seed round with Ben Franklin Technology Partners, the latter which mostly funded the efforts to bring Inspire up to speed. Meinzer and Ericson are also hoping to capitalize on the timing of its methodology submission as the United Nations Climate Change Conference is underway through Dec. 10 in Cancun, Mexico. While an international agreement might be less likely than CityRyde's VCS approval, the company hopes the buzz it has created travels south and makes an impression.

"The fact is close to 25 percent of the world's emissions stem from transportation and cities and countries alike are struggling to find ways to mitigate such with the help of carbon financing," says Meinzer, CityRyde's COO, who was in Virginia pitching angel investors earlier in the week."It's a small carbon world, and news travels fast."

Source: Jason Meinzer, CityRyde
Writer: Joe Petrucci