These green bikes are literally strewn all over Seattle. You see them on sidewalks, parking strips and in strangest places. The other day I lost count at 20, just driving along a short stretch of California Avenue.
A few years ago, Seattle started a municipal bike rental program that failed miserably. But that didn't stop us from trying again. Bikes are considered a solution to our traffic nightmares and bike riders rule the roost. They expect all the rights of motorized vehicles without the pesky rules, like stopping at red lights and signs. Adding to driver frustration, busy streets are narrowed to create seldom used bike lanes.
Anyway, after that first try, the city council gave the bike-share project to two private companies called LimeBike and Spin. Instead of docking stations, logical places where you pick up and return bikes, LikeBike and Spin just scattered them around the city. Download their app, scan the bar code with your smartphone and off you go. There's no reliable place to find one, but then, you never know where you will.
Maybe that's the idea? There must be enough people walking along who see a bike and suddenly decide they want to ride. Technically, you can get a citation for riding a bike without a helmet in Seattle, but that seems to be waived. The rental is cheap-- about $2 an hour. They look like expensive bikes so that's a lot of rides to be profitable. (Check back with me in a year or so.)
Both companies have 1,000 bikes on the streets now, and Spin says their goal is to eventually have 10,000 bikes throughout Seattle neighborhoods. Now that the weather is changing, it's kind of a sad sight seeing nice bikes thrown down willy-nilly in the rain. And honestly, the last thing I'd want to do is jump on a wet bike seat and ride off. But that's just me.
Since you can leave a bike anywhere at all, they are showing up in some strange and humorous places around Seattle.
Bikes for tree sitters.
Bikes for boaters.
Bikes for stair runners.
Bikes for people who like mechanical puzzles.
Bikes for people who jump off trains.
Bikes for swimmers.
No comments:
Post a Comment