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Successful hire schemes should mean more cyclists on road = safer = more people taking up cycling? As well as allowing people to build confidence without having to buy a bike and all the associated gear / maintenance
MCamb-
Well, that's the theory. I'm not up-to-date on the state of the evidence for that. Most people are mixed-mode users and use hire schemes as just another public service. The London hire scheme certainly led to a brief steepening of the curve of people cycling, but although I haven't looked at any recent statistics, I'm fairly sure that effect will have levelled off into insignificance. That they tried to introduce electric hire bikes in Paris (and cocked up badly) perhaps shows that they thought this was the main way of making more people 'cycle' through the hire scheme (in reality, probably driven by concerted lobbying by electric bike makers).
Oliver Schick
It's an interesting question--it was often thought that hire schemes could contribute to increasing bike ownership by convincing people they should have their own. I have no idea if anyone's studied any of that. The last thing I remember seeing, ages ago, was something on people who didn't have space to keep bikes at home.