Anyone who has lived in or traveled to other countries knows that Americans is one of the most litigious societies in the world. That alone might be the biggest obstacle to getting something like this going here, as I’m sure IKEA would not want to get sued by someone claiming that they were riding a faulty bike when they got into an accident or got injured.

I suspect that if free bikes and trailers were to be offered by IKEA it would require a fair amount of paperwork and signing on the dotted line before one was allowed to bike one’s belongings home.

It certainly can’t be about the price of the bikes; imagine how expensive it is to operate the free water taxi or shuttle buses. It also probably has little to do with fears of theft, since that is easily cleared up with a deposit on a credit card, as is done in Copenhagen. When the economic cost of potential lawsuits is less than the economic benefit of providing this service, I’m sure IKEA will offer it.

I am about 2 miles away. I would use one of these for sure if I went to IKEA.

Could be a watershed experience if the seriously got into in the Red Hook / Carrol Gardens neighberhoods

Probably the main distinction will lie is in who is making these type of decisions for IKEA in the U.S. (it may be their lawyers, true).

I doubt urban IKEAs in Europe have giant parking lots, but they wanted one here.

Danish or Swedish planners for IKEA can understand the value of bike-sharing and trailers, but if IKEA’s U.S. team is just another bunch of fat Americans in their fat cars (or typically paranoid lawyers) does it stand a chance?

Uhh… Credit where credit is due please? I brought this up last week. http://tinyurl.com/6kutlz

I agree with Shemp. Sounds like the management of Ikea USA are your typical American corporate executive type, who drives everywhere and thinks that people who don’t aren’t worth consideration. If they’re from the Midwest it makes some sense, but even if they’re from New York they’re probably the same people who think congestion pricing would hurt the poor.

Hey man, I said nothing about climbing.

It’s news to me there are hills anywhere in Brooklyn.

Um, Shemp, the entirety of Park Slope is on a hill. Hence the ‘Slope’. It may not be the biggest hill but your average person may have trouble towing a trailer and kitchen table up the road.

Sorry Shemp I brought you into this. I should have refered to “Gasping”, not you.

I live on the Slope and I am sure even for an average person, a properly geared bike, a trailer and a particle board table from the big box store we’re all discussing, would not create a hardship. I was bothered that “gasping” was passing off the idea of hauling materials by bicycle due to “serious hills”. I hired a “driver” and his cargo trike to haul a bureau and then two rain barrels up the hill from lower Atlantic Ave, and Red Hook respectively, no one got hurt from the effort. I rode next to him and we talked the whole time. It cost way less and was way easier than renting a car. Trips by bicycle and work-cycle is a viable method in our compact city, if we keep knocking the idea that it isn’t, people won’t try it themselves.