Living Car Free - Bike Sharing Comes To The U.S.A.

http://www.cbs2.com/video/?id=71665@kcbs.dayport.com (http://www.cbs2.com/video/?id=71665@kcbs.dayport.com)

How about some real serious alternatives to motor vehicles in a central city area? Here is one program that is about to be started in Washington D.C. I hope it is brought to other American cities soon!

Wow, what an awful "news" segment. First of all the interviewer is totally rude and says how the bikes will "get you from point a to point b, but they wont do it in style." Then the voice over notes that "cyclists are willing to take that extra risk for fuel savings" and does not mention AT ALL the responsibilities of motorists for the safety of people not in cages, STUPID! They then proceed to show pictures of a grave of a dead cyclist who was probably killed because of a motorist. The bikes rentals are a neat idea but anyone can buy a basic commuter bike for very cheap and then not have to rent. $40 a year is a great price but having to return the bike after only 3 hours seems a little silly. What if I need to get across town, stay somewhere for a while, and then return? Anyone ever read Ecotopia? Its a book they made us read in grade school about what would happen if california, oregon, and washington broke off from the US and made an environmentally friendly country. Cars were outlawed but the cities bought huge amounts of basic white bikes that where sprinkled throughout the city and redistributed from time to time. Anyone could use them and jsut leave them at any bike rack! What a great idea. Rather than spend billions of tax dollars cleaning up the air and building ten lane super highways just buy a sh*t tone of basic bikes and leave them around places.

Paris has its Velib system, with bike racks every 1000 feet! Quite amazing, and it works pretty well. Extremely popular. Not very fast bikes, though. We also have a bike rental network here in Stockholm, not quite as extensive as in Paris, but it seems popular. Every day on my 2-mile ride to work I see 3 or 4 of them. The idea with the Velib system, where you can have a bike for 30 minutes free of charge (if you are a member, which costs almost nothing) is that you don't take the same bike back, you leave it, do your errand, and find another one. It would be a waste to have an individual bike locked up for three hours.

Paris has its Velib system, with bike racks every 1000 feet! Quite amazing, and it works pretty well. Extremely popular. Not very fast bikes, though. We also have a bike rental network here in Stockholm, not quite as extensive as in Paris, but it seems popular. Every day on my 2-mile ride to work I see 3 or 4 of them. The idea with the Velib system, where you can have a bike for 30 minutes free of charge (if you are a member, which costs almost nothing) is that you don't take the same bike back, you leave it, do your errand, and find another one. It would be a waste to have an individual bike locked up for three hours.

A "central city" bike that can be rented out and used for a short time without worry of theft (not too flashy) or locking it up all over the place creating a junky look is something that should be offered everywhere-not just limited cities. The time has come-it just takes companies time and incentive to bring it to other cities.

While I did not care for that interviewer who does not know anything about bikes-it is so obvious-the short video did show that it's time has come in the USA.

Not to be outdone by our nation's capitol, the University of Arkansas has rolled out it's Razorbike program.

Razorbike Community Bikes (http://parking.uark.edu/320.htm) Community bikes are available to student, alumni, faculty and staff. Once they sign up, users will be given a pass-code which will unlock any Razorbike on campus for their use. Each bike will be used as transportation on or around campus for short trips and made available for the next user.

http://www.nfldraftdog.com/2008_nfl_draft/Arkansas.jpg
Woo Bike Sooie!

Not to be outdone by our nation's capitol, the University of Arkansas has rolled out it's Razorbike program.

Razorbike Community Bikes (http://parking.uark.edu/320.htm) Community bikes are available to student, alumni, faculty and staff. Once they sign up, users will be given a pass-code which will unlock any Razorbike on campus for their use. Each bike will be used as transportation on or around campus for short trips and made available for the next user.

Woo Bike Sooie!

I'm not optimistic about the Razorbike plan. I bet each user who signs up will give the code to 10 other people. Also, from your description there's no incentive to return the bike to the locking station. As I understand the Paris plan, you prepay a reasonable amount on a card. The first hour might cost $1, and one minute over might cost you another $1. This will encourage people to relock the bikes whenever they go into a store or restaurant, rather than just leave it unlocked. (I don't remember the cost, so I made up that part.)

I'm not optimistic about the Razorbike plan. I bet each user who signs up will give the code to 10 other people.

I'm not so sure of that Roody, There is a prohibition of that in the Rules and Conditions, so anyone caught doing it will probably lose their ride. I can't tell about how many codes there are from the documentation I read. If each person has a unique code, then the bike could be traced back to the last person's code. That would weigh against giving out your code. Hopefully, the administrators of the plan have read "Tragedy of the Commons" by Garrett Hardin. And the codes are free, just sign up. So that's not much of a hurdle.

I might add that the more people you give out your code to, the less likely you will be to find a bike when you need it. But many college students are not quite that aware enough to realize that.

We'll hope and that if there are problems, they will correct them as they rise. :) But +10 to their efforts.

I saw that segment, too, and agree with the statements about the reporter.

I'd like to know who's responsible for maintenance on these bikes? Every day that I ride, I have to pump up the tires on my bikes - who's going to do that on these? What about saddle height?

I dunno.....I see lots of things wrong with the concept. This sounds like one of those feel-good politician things.....maybe a politician who's brother owns a bike shop or something.