There's a great article in the New York Times about the boom in bike share programmes, with focus on Bicing in Barcelona.
From the article:
"In increasingly green-conscious Europe, there are said to be only two kinds of mayors: those who have a bicycle-sharing program and those who want one.
Over the last several years, the programs have sprung up and taken off in dozens of cities, on a scale no one had thought possible and in places where bicycling had never been popular."
"Officials in Lyon, one of the first cities to institute a large technology-driven bike program, estimate that bike-sharing has eliminated tons of pollutants since its inception in 2005. But more than that, they say, it has changed the face of the city.
“The critical mass of bikes on the road has pacified traffic,” said Gilles Vesco, vice mayor in charge of the program in Lyon. “Now, the street belongs to everybody and needs to be better shared. It has become a more convivial public space.”
6 thinking out louds:
This is so great! Every city and town around the world need to have this program :)
What I saw in Seville last month was very encouraging. It seems that implementing a bike share program gets more people riding, and they like it, and then start thinking: "this is really cool but this bike is kind of clunky, I think I'll go buy my own bike, a nice stylish city bike like I've been seeing around" and very quickly bicycles become must have fashion accessories. I saw a few bicycle themed window displays at stylish clothing stores.
On the other hand Granada is all about scooters now, with swanky stores specializing in high end outwear for ladies and stylish motorcycle helmets to go with. I wonder if that trend could be reversed if they implemented bike share...
thanks for the update from sevilla and granada!
Parents used to tell girls they would get pregnant from public toilet seats. Have we heard anything about the current pregnancy rates in these places from public bike seats?
finally the man jan and some plans for the, car infested apple. yay
http://transalt.org/files/newsroom/reports/UWS_Blueprint.pdf
...and then there are those mayors, like in Helsinki, who want to build their cities around private car use. More parking, more pollution, more congestion. I am seriously thinking of quitting Helsinki, pretty soon.
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