Here's what was posted on the WTOP website yesterday..and I'm posting a bunch of photos now, well, just because.
I didn't get a chance to take one out for a spin, I had a tight deadline, but I'm eager to see what these things feel like, and what residents think about them. I got an email from a WTOP listener who suggested that given crime, this idea could never work in the US. I called Jim Sebastian at DDOT who told me in the two years they were operating the SmartBike program, they lost 2 bikes out of a fleet of 100 to theft.
Bikes ready to roll...
From left: DDOT Director Gabe Klein, USDOT Assistant Secretary for Transportation Policy Polly Trottenberg, and DC Mayor Adrian Fenty
What a great program - this will help make the streets safer for all of us who choose to get around by bicycle. My shop BicycleSPACE in downtown DC is supporting this by giving a 10% discount on both helmets and gloves to CaBi members.
ReplyDeleteHmmm...do they call this product placement? Kidding, Erik. Let me ask, as a bike shop owner, do you see the CaBi bikes as competition or collegial? Curious as to how this will all fit together out there on the roads.
ReplyDelete