Solar powered stations for low-maintenance public use bikes. If you click the "I want it more" button you can request it and have your count added to the map, which gets sent to Lukey himself. Thats the idea anywho. Worth a look.
From today's Post-Gazette: "Other components of the proposal are a "smart parking" initiative, which would provide a guidance system for drivers using electronic displays and/or mobile devices to tell them where spaces are available, and installation of 70 automated bike rental stations with an inventory of 1,000 bikes in Downtown, Oakland and surrounding areas."
Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09327/1015656-147.stm#ixzz0Xgb2u2To
that would be sweet if we could get something like that going. paris has a similar thing that they implemented a couple years ago called velib. I tried to use it there, but American credit cards don't have the required smart chip in them. I saw mad people utilizing them while I was there, though.
This could be downtown:
Has anyone seen the boxes down along the southside trail that have bikes in them? Does anyone know what the deal with them are? Some sort of bike rental system?
Pretty nice. The best application I can think of for this would be to convince one or more of the downtown hotels like the Hilton or Sheraton Station Square that this would be a turnkey amenity that their out of town visitors would love (which would be true), rather than lay it on the city. These stations need to be right in the face of potential users, unlike, unfortunately, the jail trail station.
The Velibs were specially manufactured bikes, very expensive, for some reason, and as I understand, a large percentage of them have now been stolen. How awesome would it be if bike-share programs used something like the Kona Africabike - they are perfect, and for every 2 purchased, Kona donates one to an aid organization in Africa or Asia. I don't know if they would apply it to a bike-share, but that would be beautiful. Anyone in the market for a new townie bike should check these out. What's the opposite of "diminishing returns", maybe synergy?
http://www.konaafricabike.com/
Willie: I think the bikes you saw are part of the dasani blue bike program. which as i llok for info on it, may have just been taken over by friends of the riverfront as their own project.
http://www.friendsoftheriverfront.org/new_pages/community_bike.htm
they have this, or something like this, in paris.
Just a hunch, but I'm not sure Pittsburgh is ready for this. Maybe it is. Maybe it's just my jaded suburban view of things. But I'd rather we put our efforts into infrastructure and acceptance, rather than adding piles of newbies to Downtown streets.
As to Paris, they've been having some significant problems.
As to Paris? Well, in a city with crushing poverty in the suburbs, putting very expensive share-bikes in the fashionable neighborhoods - and none in the poor neighborhoods - might have been the wrong approach.
Mick
From what I understand it is working well in Montréal.
