Posted on 08/16/2011 7:09:01 AM PDT by Bean Counter
Portland, OR: In a city where just about everything that can be done on a bicycle has been done, Portland still doesn't do bike sharing.
Not yet anyway.
After years of study, the Portland Bureau of Transportation has recommended using $4 million in startup funds -- half from a limited, flexible federal funding pot, half from private investors -- for an automated community bicycling program.
The City Council is expected to vote Wednesday on the concept, which has proved wildly popular in other American cities and across Europe.
"We essentially expect this to be used by everybody -- tourists, businesspeople, students, people who do and don't regularly use their bicycle," said bureau project manager Dan Bower.
Urban planners increasingly see bike sharing as the mark of a world-class city. Thousands of commuters a day already use rapidly expanding networks in Washington, D.C., Miami, Minneapolis and 12 other U.S. cities. Meanwhile, a new British study shows bicycle sharing provides a wide range of health benefits to urban residents.
Still, Commissioner Amanda Fritz said Monday that the timing is wrong and she would probably vote against the recommendation.
*SNIP*
At this cost it's easier to get a cab:
This is just so dumb. We have had a bike sharing program in my college town for 10 years. The bikes are trashed and rusty and nobody ever uses them. The program was an abject failure.
If you let people use something for free, they will give it no value and have no problem treating the bikes like junk, which they will be after a few months.
But, it is utilized by a very small minority whose presence may in fact hinder transportation in all the ways cyclists inadvertently gum up systems designed for automobiles.
With that said, if they extend the DC program into Arlington like they plan to, I will likely use it on occasion for trips too far to walk and too short to Metro.
Or it’s better just to buy a BMX for 20 bucks at the local thrift store when you’re in town and donate it back when you’re done. That’s what I did when I was in Orlando and I needed to get around town.
The bike shop I work for in Dallas is in the process of building 200+ bikes for San Antonio to run a similar program.
I forget the exact numbers, but I think we sold them Gary Fisher Tarpons for less than $300 each.
No thanks. I’d rather drive my gas guzzling SUV with tush friendly seats, A/C and that will carry more than a bic pen.
Good old Portlandograd! Just like some of our cities in California, that have been taken over by Marxists from NYC and other Leftist cities on the East Coast. After they’ve succeeded in crapping up their birth nests, they move on for “cleaner” pastures.
Absolutely; $20 for any length of "rental" time more than 40 minutes surely beats the $30/hr.
But I never had even a chance to consider such a way of locomotion - not since I was much younger :-) I don't travel much these days - doing zero flying at least, but making plenty of car trips, for fun and profit. When I used to fly for business (before 9/11) the company wouldn't even listen to such "nonsense" about bicycles. They would have me all set up by the minute - land, grab a rental car from Hertz, drive to company A, have a meeting there, drive to hotel B, go to a dinner meeting at restaurant C, etc. Time of employees is too expensive to waste; when on a business trip I was working harder than when in the office.
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