Hee Hee, Bikers in Suits

Small-scale bike-share program to come to Capitol Hill

Posted at 1:27 PM on 07 Mar 2008

Thirty bicycles will be made available to government employees on Capitol Hill under a pilot bike-share program announced by U.S. Representative Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) at a National Bike Summit Thursday. "You have such a huge concentration of people" on the Hill, he said, "and so much of the errand running doesn't need to fire up an engine." Blumenauer, founder of the 160-member Congressional Bike Caucus, hopes bike sharing will take off nationwide. Currently, only 1 percent of all journeys in the U.S. are done on a bicycle. And, as Blumenauer pointed out, "How many people are stuck in traffic on their way to ride a stationary bike at a health club?"

sources: The Oregonian, Reuters, Houston Chronicle, Streetsblog
see also, in Gristmill: Cyclists should be more involved as biking advocates, NYC puts training wheels on new bike-share program, Biking communities thrive in San Francisco and Santa Cruz

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Comments: (4 comments)

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Wrong approach to transportation problem

It is not the shortage of bicycles that prevents most people from leaving their fossil-fool powered wheelchair behind; it is the perceived and real dangers posed by people in their two-ton wheelchairs. In my city, the police claim to go from dispatch to dispatch. If they are dispatched, they are not allowed to do a traffic stop. Thus, a stolen car stereo trumps wreckless driving. Is it any wonder that walking and cycling account for less than five percent of all trips but for more than thirteen percent of all road fatalities?

How about a federal law designating moving violations as crimes of violence and requiring local police departments to treat them accordingly (or face losing federal transportation funds). Or do we not care about 900 deaths per week and more than a million injuries per year from automobile WRECKS (don't call them accidents)? If you break any law that is not a traffic law and someone dies, you are prosecuted for murder. If you break a few traffic laws and people die, you are not likely to be prosecuted at all.

Perhaps the problem is that when someone is riding a bike, no one is making any money: not the oil companies, not the cardiology or diabetes clinics, not the car lots or the tire sellers or even the auto-body repair shops. In our current fascist culture, an activity that does not contribute to corporate profits is viewed by most people as not warranting any respect, including respect for the safety and life of the person engaging in the activity. Motorists just refuse to see or accommodate cyclists and pedestrians.

Perhaps if Americans understood economics a bit better they would see that every drop of imported oil used hurts our economic prospects and cedes control of our budget to tyrants. It is high time we saw those who choose to travel without fossil-fooling as the environmental and economic heroes that they truly are.

Does Earl have the guts to move beyond symbolic gestures and get on with making our transportation infrastrucure safe and functional for cyclists and pedestrians? I'd love to see it. Meanwhile, let's stop getting excited about trivial bike share programs.

by human power at 11:46 AM on 08 Mar 2008

Small efforts but could it inspire?

I am sympathetic with HP's frustration with the size of USA and reading about 30 bikes. And about how things are set. However I believe that people are mostly in paradigm about how to get to one place another because that is how they have seen all their life how to get from point a to b should be. It is a matter of awareness , but awareness needs an impact to occur, to break the paradigm.
People in congress are very important and maybe one of them can contribute to approve a program of sorts or inspire some of their inmediate voters to follow their example. Of course 30 bikes will not change the country , but 30 here and 30 there will help.
Bottom line small efforts should not be condemned but more should be required

by Daniel Guerra at 7:16 PM on 08 Mar 2008

Need to start somewhere

Yeah - 30 bikes - big deal. I agree.

However, with something like 1% of people using bikes for transportation - no way can we expect a large scale infrastructure to be put in place - without a need first.

You create the need by getting more people on bikes through programs like this. Its a semi-lame first shot - true.

But imagine multiple small attempts like this in many cities. A free pool of maybe 100 bikes to start.

This is more feasible then dreaming about major cities in the U.S. turning into Amsterdam overnight.

When gas hits $5 a gallon or so, I think you'll see more interest in bike commuting and other ways of getting around....

Gabba Gabba Hey

by Dan O at 4:30 PM on 10 Mar 2008

bike paths

In my area of Illinois there have been literally hundreds of miles of bike paths constructed.One is 240miles long and is on the Hennepin Canal.A former commercial canal that has been turned into a state park.It is a wonderful ride.There are bike paths along the Mississippi River that are 40 and 50 miles long.Bike paths along the Rock river and many bike paths in the Chicago area and suburbs.We have a new bike/pedestrian bridge that was just built last year in my town to cross the river into a twin city.
The point being that there is a growing developement strategy and way of thinking towards bicycle transportation and pedestrians.This in an area that is mostly,excepting chicago and suburbs,rural.Maybe all those DUI's are having a positive spin,lol.In Illinois the plan is to have bike paths across and the length of the state and a large part of this plan is completed.The partial problem now is to connect this numerous pathways to each other to make it continuous and that is happening also,but slowly now.
Listen,you guys are being way to pessimistic and god knows I am a pessimists,but even I can see some light in the tunnel.

Why not ask why!?

by usandthem at 7:57 PM on 10 Mar 2008

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