WASHINGTON - The bicycles were red, shiny and inviting, lined up along a rack near a bustling farmers market. Max Menna, 37, noted the chain cover to protect clothing. He used his hands to measure the front rack - good for securing briefcases or backpacks. He stepped back to inspect the vehicle's construction.

"I was just in Paris, and I was thrilled to see their program and all the bikes on the street," Menna said. "If we can approximate that, we'll achieve something."

Officially launched this month, Washington's SmartBike system is the first high-tech bike-sharing program in the country, complete with recognition chips and online registration. Although wide-scale bike-sharing is popular in Europe - the Paris program has thousands of bikes in use daily - it's only now catching on here: Both political conventions are offering bike-sharing, and Albuquerque, N.M., is preparing a program that will use solar power to run its bike kiosks.

Philadelphia could one day join the wave: In June, City Council commissioned a study to determine the viability of bike-sharing and suggest kiosk locations. The results are expected by the end of the year.

Alex Doty, executive director of the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia, said he believed bike-sharing could work here, especially after a Center City District study showed that biking certain routes was quicker than driving them. Another good sign: City officials said they expected to make a major announcement next week regarding the new role of pedestrian and bicycle coordinator.

"The potential is there to turn Philadelphia into an incredible bicycling city, an incredible green city," Doty said.

Menna, an avid cyclist, said he and his wife were excited because the program gave them an affordable way to get bikes for visiting friends and family, "and we don't have to store extra bicycles."

And with annual membership only $40, he said, "renting for one day costs as much as joining for one year."

Patrick Thomas, 69, said he had seen three bike kiosks while walking through Washington. He said he planned to join the program.

"I'm terribly excited about this," said Thomas, a social worker. "I go back and forth from my office to court. Now I can rent one of these."

SmartBike members can pick up one of 120 bikes at 10 downtown locations, use them for as long as three hours, and return them to any of the kiosks. By the end of the program's first week, 348 people had joined, and membership topped 500 almost two weeks later.

If the program is a success, the District of Columbia Department of Transportation would like it to expand outward throughout the city, spokeswoman Karyn LeBlanc said.

When Philadelphia bike-sharing was discussed during a City Council meeting this year, members wondered how the city would fund the program, where stations would be placed, and what size fleet it would need.

The seed for Washington's program was planted when the city was awarding its contract for advertising on things like billboards, bus shelters and benches. The city asked bidders if they could include a bike-sharing program, LeBlanc said.

"We knew it would be something that we could get to work within the district, and, by including it in the contract, we didn't have to pay for it," she said.

Clear Channel Outdoors, which runs bike-share programs in Europe, won the contract. Still, it took about two years before the bikes hit the streets.

First, district officials had to determine the best locations for the kiosks. The ideal, bike-sharing advocates say, is one location every 300 to 400 yards, and closer together in heavily populated or used areas. Washington decided to limit its program to its downtown, and then assessed the available public space, LeBlanc said.

In this starter program, the pick-up/drop-off locations are near subway stops and shopping and business areas.

"SmartBike is intended to provide riders with the missing link between existing points of public transportation and desired destinations," said Martina Schmidt, director of Clear Channel Outdoor's SmartBike program.

Of the 10 established kiosks, some have bikes lined along the sidewalk. Others have the bikes in the street, like parked cars.

The city picked red bikes for visibility. Since experience had shown Clear Channel Outdoors that the bikes are typically used at least 10 times a day for an average ride of 20 minutes, they needed to be sturdy yet easy to ride. The Washington bikes weigh 36 pounds, have wide seats, and easily shift among three speeds.

To combat theft and vandalism, SmartBike requires users to be 18 or older and to register with a credit card. Members receive a card to wave in front of a bike-rack sensor, which unlocks one bike and notifies the user which one is his or hers. When the bike is returned, a chip in the handle bars recognizes it and locks it back into place. (Unlike Paris, Washington is not selling one-day passes. LeBlanc noted, "There are plenty of bike shops where tourists can go and rent bikes.")

The high-tech element also allows users to go online to check bike availability, and tells the city employees who cruise in a SmartBike van when they need to take bikes to a given station. The van is also a traveling bike shop, where staffers change flat tires and make minor repairs.

At least initially, the high-tech aspect puzzled some consumers. They thought they could simply slide a credit card and have a bike released.

"I'm trying to use them. How do I use them?" asked Kevin Loor, 20, checking out the bikes near the Smithsonian museums.

Jackie Pysarchuk, 24, walked over to the same stand with her brother, who was visiting from Ohio. She had hoped they could take a ride along the Mall.

"If there was a way for tourists to sign up, that would improve it," Pysarchuk said.

Russell Meddin of Bike Share Philadelphia would like bikes to be available to "residents, nonresidents, businesspeople, students, tourists, anybody who can ride a bicycle."

He also would like to see them throughout Philadelphia, not just in one area, with perhaps as many as 5,000 bicycles and 350 stations.

"We laud Washington for being the first in North America," Meddin said. "What we want to do in Philadelphia is have them everywhere."