Diverting Topic #2: Free Bikes!
About half a mile -- excuse me, about one kilometer -- north of my house is the town of Santa Monica. Or, as we like to call it, the People's Republic of Santa Monica.
Pretty much every left-wing scheme -- from rent control to welcoming the homeless -- has been tried there, and (surprise!) foundered on the rocky shores of reality.
Now, as liberalism crashes down around itself, it toots out its sad little report, which is this: free bikes! From grand plans for comparable worth wages and all-green building zones to this, from the LA Times:
With the nation's largest bike-parking facility in one of the country's most traffic-clogged areas, Santa Monica officials hope that five loaner bicycles bought for just $3,500 can accelerate a national trend.
Biking in the Los Angeles area has been gaining momentum as evidenced by the estimated 100,000 participants in CicLAvia two weeks ago. Bike-share service provider Bike Nation also plans to launch a $16-million program in Los Angeles during the first quarter of 2013. The firm's goal is to add up to 400 bike stations and 4,000 bicycles around the city for members to rent and return at any station, a company spokesman said.
Meanwhile, the number of people taking two wheels to work is on the rise across the country. The League of American Bicyclists studied the 38 largest bicycle-friendly communities and found a 77% increase in bike commuters between 2000 and 2010. During the same period, researchers saw a 39% increase in bike commuting across the country.
"It's absolutely a chain reaction," said league spokeswoman Carolyn Szczepanski. "People see their neighbors riding, they see their co-workers riding, and it's the realization that 'If that person can do it, I can do it too.'"
The city bought five bikes, see, and they lend them out to folks to "try" bike riding to work. And the theory is, from those five bikes mighty social movements grow.
That's what liberalism is reduced to.
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Jun '10
Re: Diverting Topic #2: Free Bikes!
The mind boggles.
May '12
Re: Diverting Topic #2: Free Bikes!
"Free bikes" has been tried a number of times. Like a lot of other things. And, like a lot of things, the history doesn't seem to matter--it is eternally evergreen, fresh and new, a visionary vision whose time has come...
It would be sad if it weren't so funny; it would be funny if it weren't so sad.
Jul '11
Re: Diverting Topic #2: Free Bikes!
I take your 5 free bicycles and raise you an county wide program...
"Bike sharing makes it economical and convenient to use bikes for trips that are too far to walk but too short to drive. As a member, you can use a B-cycle to run an errand, grab lunch, travel from the bus stop to your office, or just get some fresh air. There are as many reasons to use a B-cycle as there are members!"
UPDATE: here's how many there are: http://broward.bcycle.com/
Yep! We have them all over. Never seen anyone actually use them. How much do they cost, you ask? $5.00 / day; $25/week; $45/ year.
Edited on November 6, 2012 at 3:08amOct '12
Re: Diverting Topic #2: Free Bikes!
There was something similar to this in D.C. when I was visiting this summer for a conference. I could have really used one when I was running late for a concert about 16 blocks away from the hotel, but it seemed easier (and maybe cheaper) to opt for a cab.
Sep '11
Re: Diverting Topic #2: Free Bikes!
Wait, wait, wait:
Five bikes. $3,500.
Five bicycles. Thirty-five benjamins. Three thousand, five hundred U.S. currency one-dollar simolians.
Granted, we did just revert to standard time, but here in the Eastern time zone that's $700 per bicycle.
That's, uh, a pretty hefty price per Schwinn.
And I'm guessing there's a consultant getting $250/hour in professional fees to monitor the success of the program....
Jul '11
Re: Diverting Topic #2: Free Bikes!
The League of American Bicyclists can only be stopped by The League of Extraordinarily Rational-Minded! Quick! To the Rationally-Minded Danger Cave, where cost-benefit analyses rule the Cave!
There's nothing worse than someone with money who's not responsible for earning it, but they're pretty damn sure that something has to be done with it. Liberalism, in a nutshell.
If I wanted to go for a bike ride, I'd probably just ride my bike. I'm crazy like that. If they put out Rent-A-Skateboards, would the idea still be as rad?
Sep '10
Re: Diverting Topic #2: Free Bikes!
As a person who actually rides to work sometimes, incidentally not too many kilometers from the People's Republic of Santa Monica (PRSM), I can offer some insights. Free bikes is hardly the issue. Maybe the good folks of the PRSM would care to consider the real issues:
The decision to ride or not turns on far more substantive reasons than whether or not a free bike is available. Needless to say, I did not ride in today. The end of daylight saving time signals the end of my biking-to-work season.
Aug '10
Re: Diverting Topic #2: Free Bikes!
Witness its smashing success:
Look on my works, ye conservatives, and despair!
Sep '10
Re: Diverting Topic #2: Free Bikes!
John Murdoch: Wait, wait, wait:
Five bikes. $3,500.
Five bicycles. Thirty-five benjamins. Three thousand, five hundred U.S. currency one-dollar simolians.
Granted, we did just revert to standard time, but here in the Eastern time zone that's $700 per bicycle.
That's, uh, a pretty hefty price per Schwinn.
Why do I get the feeling you haven't purchased a Schwinn in a long time? Maybe because I see that even a fairly basic Schwinn costs almost one thousand simoleons.
Perhaps it's the reversion to standard time, or perhaps it's the simoleon to simolian conversion rate.
Nov '11
Re: Diverting Topic #2: Free Bikes!
Yay! Free stuff! Forever!
Apr '11
Re: Diverting Topic #2: Free Bikes!
drlorentz
John Murdoch: Wait, wait, wait:
Five bikes. $3,500.
Five bicycles. Thirty-five benjamins. Three thousand, five hundred U.S. currency one-dollar simolians.
Granted, we did just revert to standard time, but here in the Eastern time zone that's $700 per bicycle.
That's, uh, a pretty hefty price per Schwinn.
Why do I get the feeling you haven't purchased a Schwinn in a long time? Maybe because I see that even a fairly basic Schwinn costs almost one thousand simoleons.
Perhaps it's the reversion to standard time, or perhaps it's the simoleon to simolian conversion rate. · 18 minutes ago
Unless you buy a bike from not Schwinn then you can get it for 200-300 bucks easy. Just look up bikes at your local sporting good stores.
Jun '10
Re: Diverting Topic #2: Free Bikes!
If this ends up as a Federal Stimulus program, the $16-million number will remain the same, but it will end up as 4 bike stations and 40 bikes.
Oct '10
Re: Diverting Topic #2: Free Bikes!
Valiuth
drlorentz
John Murdoch: Wait, wait, wait:
Five bikes. $3,500.
Five bicycles. Thirty-five benjamins. Three thousand, five hundred U.S. currency one-dollar simolians.
Granted, we did just revert to standard time, but here in the Eastern time zone that's $700 per bicycle.
That's, uh, a pretty hefty price per Schwinn.
Why do I get the feeling you haven't purchased a Schwinn in a long time? Maybe because I see that even a fairly basic Schwinn costs almost one thousand simoleons.
Perhaps it's the reversion to standard time, or perhaps it's the simoleon to simolian conversion rate. · 18 minutes ago
Unless you buy a bike from not Schwinn then you can get it for 200-300 bucks easy. Just look up bikes at your local sporting good stores. · 5 minutes ago
Or less. Check Walmart. Better yet, contract Walmart as purchasing agent for said bikes.
May '10
Re: Diverting Topic #2: Free Bikes!
Yeah, bikes. Great for fitness, small children and peasants trapped in totalitarian basket-case dictatorships. People in prosperous free societies still prefer the comfort, safety and efficiency of the private automobile driven on publicly financed roads. Helps make for a richer, more mobile society - just the thing that the bike extremists can't abide.
Aug '10
Re: Diverting Topic #2: Free Bikes!
Generally true, but remember that this is in California.
A) Is CA more like a basket-case dictatorship or a prosperous, free society?
B) Given the traffic in CA cities, you'll probably get there faster on a bike.
Oct '10
Re: Diverting Topic #2: Free Bikes!
It is a given this is absurd on its face. For a taste of "Biker " reality, try Portland, Oregon. A privelaged class, save they buy their own.
Save most motorists would rather regard the arrogant and reckless behaviour of bikers as targets than a contribution.
Aug '10
Re: Diverting Topic #2: Free Bikes!
I think I'd prefer it if my co-workers didn't show up for work stinking like pigs. And few offices provide showers.
Aug '10
Re: Diverting Topic #2: Free Bikes!
From what, 1000 people to 1770? Until it's in seven digits, I don't care what the percentage increase is.
Dec '10
Re: Diverting Topic #2: Free Bikes!
The velo-drones installed bike lanes here in Brooklyn. They are unnecessary and dangerous.
I rode to school every day in the 80s without special lanes and developed a healthy respect for cars and great reflexes. Bike lanes lull riders into a false sense of security that green paint on the pavement will save them from cab drivers who see as well as they smell.
Now I drive my kids to school and if I drift into the bike lane while reaching into the back to hit one of them, I get a dirty look from a fixed-wheel-hipster and a ticket from a cop who'll retire to Southampton at 40. These stops always make me nervous. The gun under my seat is licensed, but the BigGulp in my cupholder isn't.
During summer's crushing humidity and winter's freezing rain the lanes are so empty that you can set a toddler down in one for an hour, which is apparently a violation of some unrelated statutes.
The lanes are environmentally unfriendly. You don't know greenhouse gas until you draft behind Rachel Maddow. It'l make you cry like a indian in an ad council commercial.
Aug '10
Re: Diverting Topic #2: Free Bikes!
This time, the "tragedy of the commons" principle will graciously suspend itself in honor of the good intentions of the program, and these bikes will not wind up rickety, banged up, and un-maintained. Oh, and automotive traffic will be dwindle noticeably, and there will be no discernible increase in bicycle fatalities. Forward!