J. David Goodman/The New York TimesTest bikes sit at a new bike sharing station in Arlington, Va.

As Lauren Statman made her way along Calvert Street in Washington on Sunday, she stopped to investigate a new phenomenon on the sidewalk near her home: a large, empty bike share station.

From just 10 stations and about 100 bikes downtown, one of the first municipal bike sharing programs in the country is ballooning by a factor of 10: 100 stations and about 1,100 bikes are to spread around Washington and across the river in Arlington, Va., by the end of October.

The system officially opens to the public on Monday with 400 bikes at 49 stations. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty plans a morning news conference on the program.

“It seems cool because you don’t have to commit,” Ms. Statman, 23, said. She does not own a bike, she said, but will consider using the city’s bikes now that she has become interested in riding again.

The project, known asCapital Bikeshare, is the latest to come to a major American city, mirrors the systems have become integrated into manyEuropean cities. Its goals are both modest and potentially transformative: to get more people riding bikes, thereby promoting health, and shift the way transit systems work in cities.

In June, Minneapolis launched itsNice Ride program, with over 60 solar-powered stations and 700 bikes. A similar effort got under way in April inDenver, with 425 bikes. A major program is set to make its debut in Miami this fall, and New York is studying a massive program, with 30,000 bikes.

“In the early days there were discussions about our rugged individualist culture,” said Parry Burnap, executive director of Denver Bike Sharing, a nonprofit that operates the program. Some wondered whether Americans would embrace the notion of sharing. “But there are so many reasons to share,” he added. “It removes all the headaches of ownership, and people see that pretty clearly.”

For the last two years, Washington has had a very small bike share program, SmartBike, which was owned and operated by Clear Channel, the billboard advertising company. While seeking to build on lessons learned from SmartBike, the new, expanded system uses none of its infrastructure, said Chris Holben, who has been overseeing the program for the District Department of Transportation.

J. David GoodmanA couple perused bike-share instructions on Sunday in Washington.

The two systems make use of separate electric docking stations to secure the bikes and will coexist for a month before SmartBike begins to be phased out. The new stations are portable, solar-powered and wirelessly connected to a central processing hub, Mr. Holben said, and are rolling out at a pace of three to five a day.

On a test ride around Arlington on Sunday, one of the program’s fire-red three-gear aluminum bike rode smoothly if a bit heavy — the bike equivalent of a sturdy station wagon.

Ms. Statman said the bikes would be a great alternative to borrowing from friends, as she has been doing recently. She said that using the share program will allow her to try out riding on the street until she gets comfortable enough to consider buying a bike of her own.

Memberships cost $75 a year, and bikes can also be taken out by the day for a $5 daily membership fee paid by credit card. After that, the first 30 minutes are free. The next 30 minutes cost $1.50, followed by $4.50 for the next 30 minutes and $6 for every subsequent hour. “The idea is to take short trips,” Mr. Holben said.

If a bike needs work because of a flat tire or other mechanical problems, a button can be pressed on each individual lockup station. The button effectively locks the bike in place until someone from Capital Bikeshare can take a look.

Vandalism and theft were not a major problem for Washington’s earlier program, as it wasin Paris, Mr. Holben said. Of 100 bikes, only two were stolen and very few needed repairs beyond regular maintenance. There were a few incidents of tire-slashing while the bikes sat in the station and of graffiti being painted at the stations, he said.

How are climate change, scarcer resources, population growth and other challenges reshaping society? Fromscience tobusiness topolitics toliving, our reporters track the high-stakes pursuit of a greener globe in a dialogue with experts and readers.

• Read more about the blog » |Follow Green on Twitter

Follow Our Environmental Coverage

Where to find continuing coverage of the environment at The Times.Read more…

An Addendum

Some longtime contributors to the Green blog will now be posting to the Caucus and Bits blogs instead, and they can be followed on Twitter.Read more…

A Blog’s Adieu

The New York Times is discontinuing the Green blog but plans to press on with aggressive energy and environment coverage.Read more…

Q and A: The Angry Economist

Because of its natural gas boom, the United States is ahead of Europe in fixing climate change, the Oxford economist Dieter Helm argues.Read more…

A Snapshot of Drilling on a Park’s Margins

A photographer seeks to drive home the proximity of fracking to Glacier National Park.Read more…

FollowGreen on