In 1994 Portland salvaged a bunch of bikes, painted them yellow and stationed them throughout downtown. The idea was that pedestrians could borrow a bike, leave it at their destination for someone else to use and so on. Repairmen were hired but couldn't keep up with vandalism. The used bikes had no real value, but too many disappeared, and the program was abandoned. Earlier or contemporary programs in Amsterdam and other cities met the same fate. More recently (click on title) an advertising company in Paris spent $140 million to set up a bike rental program (one euro daily). The $3000 bikes (heavy duty, special locking systems) soon disappeared or were wrecked--but the program continues. Portland recently put on hold plans for a similar rental program, but others appear to be thriving in several European cities (the ClearChannel system has 12,000 "Smartbikes" in several European cities with Washington D.C set to join). An idea whose time has finally come? Will high tech fixes (Smartbikes maintain constant electronic contact with base operations) overcome urban dysfunction? Stay tuned.
No comments:
Post a Comment