The problem isn't that people aren't using the shiny new B-cycle kiosks scattered around downtown, but that they are. The reality of widespread bicycle usage is shattering the myth of cycling as a force for good. Cyclists, it turns out, are only human, which is to say, selfish and dangerous.
Something about the design and placement of the kiosks -- perhaps that they're located on sidewalks -- seems to suggest to users that they are more akin to slow-moving personal mobility devices such as wheelchairs and Segways than to road machines. The breezy, retro, beach-combing styling of the bikes themselves may contribute to the feeling that they're being offered as an alternative not to driving, but to waking. As a result, great numbers of B-cycle customers are now cruising the sidewalks of Denver, quite illegally. If bicycles are supposed to make our streets safer, they have instead made our sidewalks chaotic.
And what's with renting bikes without helmets? Someone must have got a knock on the head before coming up with this genius plan.
Even if B-cycle gets an A, whether the project succeeds or fails is entirely up to riders.
I couldn't agree more. Yesterday I saw a cyclist in the road (as he should be) swerve around a car trying to make a left turn and then made a left turn himself, cutting off the car. No helmet, no regard for the giant metal machine that easily could have killed him.
ReplyDeleteIf we're going to have a Bike Share program we need the largest informational campaign possible to get the public more aware of the rules-of-the-road for bikes!