David Byrne & JSK are out here now!

I can’t wait for this to become a full-blown reality in NYC. There are two things that limit my biking in the city. One is that from where I live in Brooklyn, it’s not that safe to ride. Now I’ll be able to take the subway into the city and ride around to the things I need to do. The other is that I’m worried about my bike getting stolen. This will solve that fear. Just lock it up at a station and forget about it!

Bike sharing can not come to New York fast enough.

my friend ANDY ate one!

i love bike sharing and think it has the potential to revolutionize how people get around in cities.

if i understand correctly bixi and bcycle are essentially the same, just that bcycle has a basket and built in lock while bixi doesnt (IMO the lock and basket are very important).

bixi is much more prepared for the demonstration with their traveling kiosk that helps sell their product so much better.

Bixi will be at Bowling Green Noon-8 p.m. today (Friday)

I \v/ NY, these Bixi bikes I tried yesterday had a basket up front with a bungee cord. I put my shoulder bag in it and it stayed securely as I took a test drive.

I was amazed in Montreal to see the Bixi stations everywhere. My favorite part is the flashing tail lights built into the frame. Bring it on, NYC.

yeah but the bungee cord thing in my opinion is inadequate especially when compared to the bcycle basket. i tried the bungee cord strapdown thing a week ago probably on one of those very bixi bikes when the demo was in portland. sure the basket is bulky looking but it is extremely useful. you could fit a small bag of groceries in the bcycle basket but you couldnt strap down the grocery bag on the bixi.

doug, i guarantee you are correct, certain media outlets will have a field day the first time something negative happens with bike sharing.

imo the helmets thing is a bit of an issue, but i dont see these bikes being used for high speed bike travel, you are mostly going to be traveling at about a running pace and runners dont wear helmets. plus your head is about the same height off the ground on a bike as it is when you are walking. and of course you could always strap a helmet onto your bag for the times you do use bike sharing.

There is a level of absurdity in establishing local multi-million dollar monopolies for goods and services produced elsewhere and better produced locally. It is bad economic sense. It is bad public policy.

We have done that for CEMUSA with exclusive transportation and street advertising rights. It seems that we have done this for Kawasaki and Bombadier which build our million-dollar subway cars and trains. And, maybe those deals made good economic sense in the past but, it is really important to give significant weight to what can be done here and what we can do for ourselves.

Now it looks like we are going to do the same with bicycle technology the type of readily accessible agile technology New Yorkers are best at easily demonstrated by New York’s $5 billion motion picture industry which is extremely good at building things — exemplified by the extraordinary sets and special effects of the recently finished $200 million film Sorcerer’s Apprentice and other large films — and, by-the-way, extremely dependent on good transportation.

Unlike many of those in the financial industry, there are a lot of people in this town who can actually build things and it is about time this city learns to truly value what they can do, assist in cultivating their critical skills and incomes, and use them well. While these can-do people might not have a large presence at the fanciest hedge fund cocktail parties, this makes the best economic sense.

The startup of the Bixi operation in Montreal was co-sponsored by Rio Tinto Alcan, a huge company that mines uranium and coal. It is named as the “title sponsor” of Bixi in Montreal.

The operator and partner of Bixi in London is Serco.

War Profiteer of the Month: Serco
http://www.wri-irg.org/node/6667

The Government Pension Fund of Norway, Excluded Companies
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Government_Pension_Fund_of_Norway#Excluded_companies

Serco Nuclear Weapons
http://www.serco.com/markets/nuclear/index.asp
http://www.serco.com/markets/defence/awe.asp

Municipalities decide that bicycles are not a funding priority, and so in marches Cemusa, Clear Channel and JCDecaux… and now Serco.

Sadly cyclists are mainly silent, e.g.: http://www.lcc.org.uk/index.asp?PageID=1469

#19, Todd Edelman, Thanks! Had no idea the company behind Bixi is so bad.

Rio Tinto Alcan believes that a successful business strategy includes investing in the development of the communities where we live and work; helping them become vibrant, livable, prosperous, safe and sustainable.

Through the Rio Tinto Alcan Canada Fund, Rio Tinto is committed to providing support for community-building initiatives which integrate environmental, economic and social considerations, and which meet the needs of the present while safeguarding our legacy for future generations. We are looking for projects that demonstrate innovation, collaboration, new learning, and inclusion. We want to fund ideas that have the potential for measurable progress toward local sustainability. We want to help make a difference for today and for the future.

from http://www.riotintoalcan.com/ENG/ourapproach/1356_rio_tinto_alcan_canada_fund.asp

Rio Tinto bought Alcan and I imagine part of the deal was to maintain its Canadian charity efforts.

With only one to two percent bicycle ridership in this town the New York City bicycle industry may be poised to experience explosive growth with sales tax and income tax of goods and people working in the industry enough to offset and even exceed any infrastructure accommodation costs provided with public funds.

Bicycle sales alone could easily ramp up to range between one hundred thousand to one million bicycles or more per year possibly exceeding those of the world’s largest bicycle companies.

Agile adaptation to such rapid positively disruptive change would be an apt challenge for DoT commissioner Sadik-Khan and Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Local agile industries such as New York’s motion picture industry and government services like New York City’s Department of Design, Construction and Department of Transportation, and even the New York Police Department could provide the local systemic infrastructure to accommodate, support, and encourage such rapid change; possibly serving as a replicable model for global dispersion by high margin high-talent consulting services developed locally in NYC here and now and virtually overnight.

It should be obvious that allowing much of this extreme economic and human capital opportunity to be developed offsite does not make any sense and would be a tragic lost opportunity.

Wherein public and private library systems (such as university college libraries) have the information technology to provide similar services required to check in and check out books they may be readily adapted to assist bike share providing for a easy-to-develop low-cost bike systems with additional revenue streams, increased use and advanced of library systems all within an extremely consilient framework.

Great! Not only can they track me by recognizing my face on closed circuit cameras and by where I swipe my Metrocard. Now they’ll also be able to track me by scanning my bike’s barcode or RFID tag when I lock up!

. . . toss your cell!