For the last few years around here local governments have been saving money
by providing emergency medical services to large public gatherings by bike.
Here is a photo of one of a pair that was serving the 4th events downtown.
I once attended a short lecture on the reasons for the switch. The guy from the fire department said that it was expensive to provide full ambulances and took them out of the neighborhoods. He also said that the guys on bikes could get through a crowd and attend to a patient much quicker than an ambulance. He said the strategy was to substitute two bikes hauling first aid gear for an ambulance. The bikes have radios so if they need to move someone they can call in help. It sounded to me like bikes provided better overall service than relying just on motor vehicles. This guy said he wasn't in radio contact with an ambulance but with a medical aid tent and the people at the tent would get one or a helicopter if he needed to move someone. He ran down a list of stuff he carried but it was all technical. He said they carried some kind of portable cardiac arrest equipment among other things.

This year I noticed more police on bikes too. Maybe I noticed them because their bikes are now equipped with sirens and they seemed to get a kick out of blasting them when they wanted the crowd to part for them.

As more government services get delivered by bike car free should become more acceptable.

My city replaced all its garbage trucks with guys on Xtracycle bikes.


j/k ;)

I was a firefighter/paramedic, and after our cops got local grant money to fund bike patrol, a friend and I tried to float the idea for bike EMS at special events such as concerts. Even though the initial cost would have been nothing, the chiefs didn't want to hear about it for fear of overtime costs. :mad:

Virginia Beach EMS has used bikes for a few years now, especially at the beach front.

I was a firefighter/paramedic, and after our cops got local grant money to fund bike patrol, a friend and I tried to float the idea for bike EMS at special events such as concerts. Even though the initial cost would have been nothing, the chiefs didn't want to hear about it for fear of overtime costs. :mad:

Funding bike patrols? Wouldn't they SAVE money as opposed to putting those cops in cars?

At the crit last month, the place was swarming with EMS bikes. Never saw so many at one event before. Maybe they figured it would be less disruptive to the races with bikes to the rescue. Or that it would take some of the sting out of a crash if the racers were bandaged up by an EMT on a bike. Or that it just made sense to have EMS bikes at a bike race. Anyway, even though we have the largest police bike patrol in Upstate, all the cops were on foot or with cars.

I was a firefighter/paramedic, and after our cops got local grant money to fund bike patrol, a friend and I tried to float the idea for bike EMS at special events such as concerts. Even though the initial cost would have been nothing, the chiefs didn't want to hear about it for fear of overtime costs. :mad:

I'm not seeing the connections here between EMTs on bikes and overtime costs. Help?

I would think that EMS paramedics on bicycles might work in some cases.

As previously stated, they would be less expensive for fire departments in some towns, especially ones which are volunteer and can't afford to purchase, equip, and maintain ambulances. This idea would be successfull when such personel are dispatched within a limited radius. It would also help to provide first aid quickly for people at public gatherings such as concerts, parades, town meetings, etc until a fully equipped ambulance arrives from elsewhere.

However, there is a down side to this idea. Bicycle-mounted EMS personel might not work everywhere. This is especially so if the response time isn't fast enough. For instance, they may be considerably slowed if the areas they work have hills they can't ascend quickly. Some towns are in climates where, in winter, are below zero and there's a lot of snow. Other weather and geographical factors also have a hand in the idea not being a success for some communities.

Please let it be known that what I've said is objective. Personally, I like the idea of EMS personel on bicycles.

I'm not seeing the connections here between EMTs on bikes and overtime costs. Help?

The number of people working on a given shift in a fire department is usually flexible. If we had been at minimum staffing (the minimum required to staff engines, ladder, and EMS units) then there would be no one available for bike duty, thus requiring someone to be called in on overtime. If we had increased the minimum staffing to have permanent bike units (this was not the plan), then we would have had to hire additional people.

The bottom line is that the chief didn't like the idea and needed a reason to veto it.

Holy Cow!!! What a amazingly good idea!!

It's nice to know that common sense IS alive and well in some places. ;) ;)

That could be a good idea here, as a paramedic on a bike could more easily get past traffic in many places. Often times when I see an ambulance in traffic, motorists won't even move over for them. I can't decide if they're just being jerks or actually that spaced out.

I'm a paramedic. I've done EMS on a bike. It works if coordinated and supported well. In a nutshell...Medics on Bikes provide a quick response to areas where driving an ambulance might be delayed (parades, mass gatherings, concerts, remote points of access, etc). The medics often carry advanced airway equipment, cardiac defibrillators (AEDs) and medications for many different conditions (allergic reaction to cardiac arrest). Medics usually work in teams of 2 and are usually in radio contact with a central communications point (Event Command, City or County 911 Center, etc). The Bike Medics are able to deploy right to the area where medical emergencies are likely to occur, respond within a few minutes to the scene, begin treatment, assess the situation and coordinate the transport of the patient based on location and access (ambulance vs. helicopter vs. golf-cart type ambulette).

Finally, it is a total blast to be a bike medic! You get to be out in the crowd, ride a bike and be a hero all at the same time...plus you even get paid!

Paramedics on bikes have been used a lot by armies, especially the NVA and vietcong, but also European armies even into WW II. They would even transport casualties on bike trailers in some cases.

The number of people working on a given shift in a fire department is usually flexible. If we had been at minimum staffing (the minimum required to staff engines, ladder, and EMS units) then there would be no one available for bike duty, thus requiring someone to be called in on overtime. If we had increased the minimum staffing to have permanent bike units (this was not the plan), then we would have had to hire additional people.

The bottom line is that the chief didn't like the idea and needed a reason to veto it.

Gotta love black-and-white thinkers...not!

EMS folks are roaming on bikes all the time in Chicago at the big events. They have been for years. Perhaps if some cops and EMS folks are really interested in trying to figure it out, they could call over to the Chicago police department and get some ideas.

Also, Chicago has a police bike unit too. Chicago is very pro bike.

Koffee