This wouldn't work in Philly unless there were such a flood of bikes that it became not profitable to steal bicycles. There are too many "entrepreneurs" in the city who would steal a bike or ten if they were available for that theft. Bike locks are only a means to stall a thief not prevent bike theft. I wish philly were a more friendly bike commuter city, but until gas reaches $7 a gallon, people are still going to drive as much as ever. Some day though, we'll all be forced to ride bikes. Philip
On Thursday 19 July 2007 18:56, Isabel Lugo wrote: > Recently I read an article in the New York Times about Velib, a > bike-sharing program in Paris. People can rent bikes for a small fee, > and they do not need to be left where they came from but can be left > at any of a wide variety of stations throughout the city. Thus you > can, for example, get on a bike for one's morning commute, leave it at > a "station" near work, and then use a different bike to go home; you > only pay for, say, the half-hour in the morning and the half-hour in > the evening. (Actually, trips less than a half-hour are free; I'm not > sure whether this is because the program is supported by tax dollars, > or if they make enough money on people taking more than half an hour > that they can afford this and still expect to make a profit.) This is > different from most of the car-sharing companies which require you to > bring the car back where you got it. > > The New York Times article (July 10) isn't accessible unless you have > Times Select. The Velib web site > (http://www.velib.paris.fr/comment_ca_marche/faq__1) does a decent job > of explaining it, I think, although it's (surprise!) in French. (I'm > actually a bit surprised there's no English translation, because if I > remember correctly the NYT article said that they wanted to market it > to tourists as well as locals.) > > Anyway, what I'm wondering is -- is there some obvious reason this > wouldn't work in, say, Philadelphia? I'm always seeing people on > bikes here. I'd sign up. I don't have a bike and don't want to deal > with the hassle of having to keep it somewhere (small apartment), > maintain it, etc., but often I find myself wishing I had one. > > Isabel > ---- > You are receiving this because you are subscribed to the > list named "UnivCity." To unsubscribe or for archive information, see > <http://www.purple.com/list.html>. ---- You are receiving this because you are subscribed to the list named "UnivCity." To unsubscribe or for archive information, see <http://www.purple.com/list.html>.
