Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

New York Bike-Share Program Bans ‘Fat’ People
Opposing Views ^ | 05/02/2013 | Lauren Schiff

Posted on 05/02/2013 1:54:17 PM PDT by Responsibility2nd

A new bike-share program in New York looks like a promising way to fix some of the city's biggest problems, like traffic congestion, air pollution, and obesity.

Or rather, let us rephrase: It will help to relieve issues of obesity, but only for the portion of the population weighing less than 260 pounds.

“Everyone who signs up for the program has to agree to a contract, which states users ‘must not exceed maximum weight limit (260 pounds)’ because the bikes can’t hold that much heft,” explains the New York Post.

But citizens aren’t buying it. Jhoskaira Ferman, a 20-year-old student from Pelham Bay, Bronx, says that “If you’re 260 pounds or 300 pounds and want to ride a bike, you should be allowed to. You’re making a choice to live healthier and to lose weight.”

19-year-old Juleissy Lantigua agrees: “That’s bogus,” she says. “260 pounds isn’t going to break the bike. To me, that’s discrimination. And I’m not easily offended!”

Although the anti-fat rule has some people outraged, the New York Post’s coverage clarifies that “bike-share programs run by the same contractor — the Portland, Ore.-based Alta Bicycle Share — launched in Boston with the same weight restriction. London’s program also has the restriction.” It’s a battle of morality against practicality. 

MailOnline.com says that New York Department of Transportation Policy Director Jon Orcutt has explained that despite the weight recommendation from the bike manufacturer, the city will not strictly enforce the limit, claiming that he thinks riders “will be self-selecting, practical and safe.”

The program apparently will cost users $95 per year, or $25 per week to hop onboard, albeit for those who pass the weight limitations.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government
KEYWORDS: bikeshare; newyorkcity; nofatchicks
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-43 next last
To: Responsibility2nd

They will just disguise themselves.





Please Support FR



21 posted on 05/02/2013 2:17:24 PM PDT by Lady Jag (If you can't make them see the light, let them feel the heat. - Reagan)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Responsibility2nd

22 posted on 05/02/2013 2:21:06 PM PDT by Doogle (USAF.68-73..8th TFW Ubon Thailand..never store a threat you should have eliminated))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Lady Jag

Hahahahaha ... good one! :)


23 posted on 05/02/2013 2:21:48 PM PDT by mlizzy (If people spent an hour a week in Eucharistic adoration, abortion would be ended. --Mother Teresa)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: RedStateGuyTrappedinCT
Speaking of Mooch...

She don't care about no fat person ban. She'll fly in her own bike.

24 posted on 05/02/2013 2:22:05 PM PDT by Responsibility2nd (NO LIBS. This Means Liberals and (L)libertarians! Same Thing. NO LIBS!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: andyk

That’s the outrageous part of this. Its not whether or not fat people can ride the bikes. Its that the government is using freakin’ taxpayer money to run this boondoggle. Let me make a prediction: fat people riding won’t be much of an issue because these bikes will be stolen or destroyed within short order.


25 posted on 05/02/2013 2:22:39 PM PDT by Opinionated Blowhard ("When the people find they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: mlizzy



26 posted on 05/02/2013 2:25:10 PM PDT by Lady Jag (If you can't make them see the light, let them feel the heat. - Reagan)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: Responsibility2nd

bike? I thought she used a broom... or was that her wife...


27 posted on 05/02/2013 2:26:23 PM PDT by longtermmemmory (VOTE! http://www.senate.gov and http://www.house.gov)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: Opinionated Blowhard

we should call them bloomycycles.

somebody is making a few crony dollars off of this joke.


28 posted on 05/02/2013 2:27:22 PM PDT by longtermmemmory (VOTE! http://www.senate.gov and http://www.house.gov)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]

To: Opinionated Blowhard

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_sharing_system

The initial 30 bicycles placed into service for the Orange Bike Project were all stolen within a few weeks.[40] A total of 80 bicycles were eventually used in the Orange Bike Project, all of which were either stolen or vandalised beyond repair.[40] In one case, an Orange Bike Project bicycle was thrown in front of a freight train, in others, bikes were found with major frame damage consistent with deliberate vandalism.[40] The program was terminated after only five months of operation.[39][40]


29 posted on 05/02/2013 2:29:06 PM PDT by PeterPrinciple
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]

To: RedStateGuyTrappedinCT; freedumb2003; All

Don’t you know that African women have big butts for a heredity survival reason. Overweight protects against starvation. Putting it all on the rear protects the rest of the body from overheating. If you see a picture of Michelle you will see her arms are not fat.

Regarding the weight limit. By signing the contract, the rider swears he/she is not over 260 lbs. I don’t know if they ever see the person. If they are very heavy and then get in an accident/damage the bike with overweight, then they are liable and the bike company is not. I can imagine a 300 pounder roaring down a hill could be very dangerous to both himself and others and the bike.


30 posted on 05/02/2013 2:29:32 PM PDT by gleeaikin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: SIDENET

31 posted on 05/02/2013 2:30:50 PM PDT by musicman (Until I see the REAL Long Form Vault BC, he's just "PRES__ENT" Obama = Without "ID")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: JRandomFreeper

You have space to store the bike when you’re not using it. The issue with a lot of NYC apartments is one of having to store the bike in the shower or on the fire escape.

Might be cheaper to rent than replacing bike after bike that’s stolen.


32 posted on 05/02/2013 2:32:46 PM PDT by Black Agnes
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Responsibility2nd
19-year-old Juleissy Lantigua agrees: “That’s bogus,” she says. “260 pounds isn’t going to break the bike. To me, that’s discrimination. And I’m not easily offended!”

it's not discrimination. it's physics.

33 posted on 05/02/2013 2:35:55 PM PDT by TurboZamboni (Marx smelled bad & lived with his parents most his life.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Opinionated Blowhard
 

fat people riding won’t be much of an issue because these bikes will be stolen or destroyed within short order.
 

 

You got that right.

 

Read:

Springtime for Bloomberg
Daniel Greenfield @ the Sultan Knish blog ^ | Wednesday, May 01, 2013 | Daniel Greenfield
 

Posted on Thursday, May 02, 2013 7:29:46 AM by Louis Foxwell

 

Wednesday, May 01, 2013

Springtime for Bloomberg

 
Spring is in the air, which in New York means that it's time to launch the bike-share program. The bike-share program, which stacks racks of bikes out in the street in the hope that eveyone will stop driving cars and rent bikes instead, failed in Paris, Melbourne and Montreal. But Mr. Bloomberg is not about to stop his wars on obesity and global warming long enough to let the failure of a senseless program everywhere else slow down his bid to implement it.

In Paris, 80 percent of the bicycles were stolen. Some ended up in Africa and Eastern Europe. But surely that won't happen in a law-abiding place like Gotham.

Citibike, better known as a plan to stock Craiglist with secondhand bikes at taxpayer expense, was supposed to launch last summer, but the software developed by the Montreal parking authority didn't work. In only two years, the Montreal taxpayer funded company and its bike share plan had managed to get into enough financial trouble to require a 108 million dollar bailout. But then the big contracts from Chicago and New York City arrived and in a fortuitous coincidence, the Chicago Department of Transportation intern who wrote up the proposal was hired and given a top position in the company.
 
more....

 

34 posted on 05/02/2013 2:35:56 PM PDT by Responsibility2nd (NO LIBS. This Means Liberals and (L)libertarians! Same Thing. NO LIBS!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]

GVW: 0.1 TONS


35 posted on 05/02/2013 2:48:05 PM PDT by Gene Eric (The Palin Doctrine.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Responsibility2nd

I’m trying to envision the long line of 260 lb + waiting to ride their bikes .... but in NYC the His High and Mightiness might have banned them from public transportation and ordered them onto an exercise program.


36 posted on 05/02/2013 2:56:46 PM PDT by RetiredTexasVet (You don't have to be stupid to become a Progressive, but it does speed up the process.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Responsibility2nd

This is not fair to the Fat Bottom Girls!

My favorite rendition.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yUxSHJL1aw


37 posted on 05/02/2013 3:03:41 PM PDT by Gator113 ( ~just keep livin~ I drink good wine, listen to good music and dream good dreams.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Gator113

Fat Bottom Girls = Fat Bottomed Girls....details, details. ;>)


38 posted on 05/02/2013 3:05:08 PM PDT by Gator113 ( ~just keep livin~ I drink good wine, listen to good music and dream good dreams.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 37 | View Replies]

To: Responsibility2nd

Quite a few things have limits of 250 pounds. Some ladders: one example of many. Maybe some bikes are built tougher than others. Wouldn’t want someone well over the weight limit to get hurt, and there are other good ways to exercise. Swimming is great for those who can swim.


39 posted on 05/02/2013 3:27:43 PM PDT by familyop (We Baby Boomers are croaking in an avalanche of rotten politics smelled around the planet.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: andyk

Ya think the Fuhrer would have welcomed all these political vermin into his inner circle??


40 posted on 05/02/2013 3:44:02 PM PDT by ExTexasRedhead
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-43 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson