WASHINGTON, D.C. -- With gas prices as high as they are, cities are looking for new ways to ease congestion.

Washington, D.C. is gearing up to roll out its first in the nation high-tech Bike Share Program. The program could be in Seattle by the first of next year.

Washington, D.C. is rolling out a first in the United States.

Biking is a lot better exercise that sitting or standing on a bus. This is how the system is going to work. Commuters would take their card, swipe it, find out which bike to got to, take the bike off the rack, adjust it and then take off.

The program is not a new idea. Tacoma, Wash., tried it before, but it was hard to stop people from stealing the bikes.

D.C.’s system has high-tech locks and a card system that tracks who is using the bike and charges for bikes that don’t get returned.

Jim Sebastian with the D.C. Department of Transportation said, “I think it is really going to be your cheapest transportation option. It will cost about $40 a year, which is cheaper that the bus.”

The program is already being done in Europe, including Paris. In just one year, it has increased bike traffic by 70 percent.

When Barack Obama and John McCain are officially announced as presidential nominees at their parties’ convention, there will be bike shares there too.

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