Currently, Porocle has 45 cycle ports throughout an area in the Sapporo city that is approximately 5km wide east to west and 3km north to south. Approximately 270 bicycles are available for use, and the number of registered users has reached over 6,500 people (Total from end of 2012 business year). According to the 2012 Porocle user survey, 75% of the young people who use the service answered that their range of travel has been expanded, thanks to the Porocle service. We can see that the use of Porocle has allowed the travel range and activities of the young people in the Sapporo city to expand.

The reason Porocle was instituted was because of the problem in the Sapporo city area of the city's reputation deteriorating due to people leaving bicycles on sidewalks, and poor road manners of cyclists. As one of the ways to solve this problem, in 2008 the university-industry research group began the development of the Cycle Sharing Service, and in 2011, Docon Mobility Design Co., Ltd. launched the operation.

The special characteristic of Porocle, among all the nation-wide bicycle sharing developments progressing, is that the young people are actively involved as part of the management body, and that they are trying to work in cooperation with various entities, such as the Sapporo Odori City Development Co., Ltd., that are involved in community development.

Porocle’s operations are run mainly by a group of young people around 20 years old, under the NPO organization “Ezorock.” This group checks the bicycles and the cycle ports, adjusts the numbers of bicycles at the various ports, and other daily management and business operations. They are also working to help people comply with rules pertaining to riding bicycles and improve roadside manners by doing PR work among the local citizens. The Sapporo Odori City Development Co., Ltd. is working on the “City Center Bicycle Measures Action Plan” developed by the shopping district community, and as a part of these measures, Porocle has been assigned with establishing a base for the alternative to privately-owned bicycles and administering educational activities regarding roadside manners.

In this way, not only is Porocle a transportation alternative, but by encouraging young people and the community to get involved, Porocle is contributing to community building from several aspects, such as creating community interaction, forming a positive urban landscape, ensuring safety and ease in pedestrian spaces, and realizing an environment-friendly transportation system.

Out on the street, encouraging people to comply with cycling rules

Source) Docon Mobility Design Co., Ltd.

## (4) Trend in Travelling Outside the Prefecture

Regarding travel outside the prefecture, out of the several transportation methods available, all with differences in travel time, costs, etc., which methods are the young people choosing? For holiday travel outside the prefecture (excluding travel by passenger automobiles and work-related travel), if we look at the main methods of transportation used by age groups, while the percentage of people in their 20's who travel by airplanes is lower than other generations, they have a higher percentage of people who travel by bus. If we compare the people in their 20's in 2005 and the people in their 20's in 2010, the percentage of people who travel by planes has dropped by a larger margin than other age groups, but the percentage of people who travel by bus has increased (Graphic 175, 176).