Just when you thought that ideas to make biking in the cities even more exciting have been exhausted, bike sharing suddenly takes an interesting turn for the better. Enter the Asian Development Bank and its new project for sustainable urban transportation, the Tutubi Bicycle sharing program.

Paolo rides the Tutubi Bicycle with ADB Staff

We were able to sit down with Lloyd Wright, ADB’s Senior Transport Specialist, and Bradley Schroeder, ADB’s Sustainable Transportation Consultant. Lloyd and Bradley highlighted the importance of raising awareness of bicycle usage in the city, as well as having the infrastructure and support laid down for it. The more bikers that take the road, they say, the easier it will be for NGO’s, organizations and even LGU’s to provide support for it.

As of writing, the ADB Tutubi Project is currently in testing phases in the ADB complex, as well as in the University of Santo Tomas campus. The bike sharing system uses bike racks, and electronic cards that one simply taps onto the racks to release the bikes from their locks. The system records the card owner’s details such as name, payment details, address and duration of the bike user’s trip between stations.

The system might one day be suitable for inter-city transportation, but will need the devoted assistance of municipalities concerned. For now, however, a few key locations are in negotiations with ADB, namely places like Bonifacio Global City, Nuvali and Ayala Center.

Keep an eye out for these brightly-colored bikes! There might be some of them rolling alongside busy thoroughfares soon!