how do you ride a bike with no air in the tires??? cause that's what i see in store as people let the air out of them in the rack so they can't be used.
Posted on 04/27/2008 7:05:41 PM PDT by OeOeO
WASHINGTON (AP) — More Washingtonians could be pedaling to meetings on Capitol Hill and other appointments when the city launches the nation's first European-style bike-sharing service next month.
The program, called SmartBike D.C., is similar to car-sharing services like Zipcar. Users must sign up for a $40 annual membership to gain access to a network of bikes stored at computerized racks around the city. To unlock the bike, users simply scan their access cards. The bikes can be used for up to three hours at a time and can be returned at any SmartBike station. In the beginning at least, there won't be any hourly charges.
(Excerpt) Read more at money.excite.com ...
Great screen name: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJIyQ_YqBMU
perhaps I’m just a pessimist but I don’t see this working.
That’s exactly what I was going to say. Perhaps the bikes will be stolen and sold for crack.
I’ve spent time in DC and haven’t found the people downtown to be too sharing.
Most of these bikes will disappear within 30 days … anything not tied down in DC is history.
how do you ride a bike with no air in the tires??? cause that's what i see in store as people let the air out of them in the rack so they can't be used.
/johnny/
Ride … did I say ride? If your object were to filch bikes on a large scale (which this could precipitate), a van and well-practiced crew would not be hindered by flat tires. ;-)
Nothing says success like showing up to a meeting looking like a drowned rat, big wet circles under your arms and stinking like the locker room after last Thursdays high school football workout.
My guess is that corporate ladder will be a little harder to climb, with a gunk infested body, but then what do I know.
How about a sweaty gritty high five on that prospect. It’s the greeting that keeps on giving, whiff after whiff the rest of the day.
I believe Madison, Wisconsin tried a “bike sharing” program a few years ago ... but Madison is so liberal, they actually believed an honor system would work!
I suppose my tax dollars are paying for this ?
i heard that...
Just the police reports.
“I suppose my tax dollars are paying for this ?”
RIF
Per the article:
“SmartBike is run by Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings Inc., which handles bus-shelter advertising for D.C. The company runs the bike-sharing programs in 13 European cities, including Barcelona, Spain, and Oslo, Norway.”
“Still, the city didn’t have to spend any money to set up the program because it is part of its bus-shelter contract with Clear Channel Outdoor. Sebastian said the city likely is getting a smaller percentage of the revenue from bus-shelter advertising because of the costs associated with the bike program, but officials haven’t put a number on the lost revenue.
Paul DeMaio, who owns bike-sharing consultancy MetroBike LLC, said a program like Clear Channel Outdoor’s costs about $4,500 per bike to start. Beyond the bikes themselves, that figure includes capital costs associated with the computerized bike racks, he said.”
You don’t know where that bike seat has been......
More Washingtonians could be pedaling to meetings on Capitol Hill
Dang, I thought for a minute our representatives were going to be forced to ride bikes back and forth to work. I can dream can’t I?
no worse than showing up with the smell of gasoline all over your hands.
plenty of people here in dc bike to and from work. some even have jobs that require them to wear a shirt and tie. ;)
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