Bicycling in the news...

I have been moving, dealing with workpeople, and just now beginning to unpack (of course the computer connection is set up) so I am way behind in email, reading, etc., so I missed both of these events...

Smart Bike launch in DC, see "Bike-Sharing Gets Smart," from Time Magazine.

Timothy Devine for TIME
1. Use a card to unlock a SmartBike in Washington.
2. Remove assigned bike from rack; adjust seat.
3. Return to a SmartBike rack within 3 hours.

The Time article has a nice description of the Vélib system in Paris, and confirms the point I make about the difference between government services and programs and transformational government services, as well as the importance of how the system is considered:

Why the renewed interest? One word: Vélib. Paris launched the Vélib program a year ago, and while très cheap (its name is French shorthand for "free bike"), it's actually not free. Although places like Copenhagen, Lyons and Barcelona are big on bike-sharing, the City of Lights boasts the crème de la crème, with 20,600 bikes and about 1,450 stations--four times the number of Parisian metro stops. It's hard to walk more than two blocks without running into a bike rack, which helps explain why the program has already yielded a 5% drop in car traffic. Paris has also removed lots of parking spots to make way for bike stations.

But making things convenient for riders is a major production. Some 400 people work full-time to ensure that the Vélib program runs smoothly. Every day trucks have to move bikes around to meet rush-hour demands, and a barge along the Seine serves as a floating bike-repair shop. "We conceived of this as a public-transportation system, so it operates as one," says Bernard Parisot, president of JCDecaux NA, the outdoor-advertising company that runs Vélib with the profits it makes from selling ads on bus shelters and billboards.

This certainly puts Pennsylvania Avenue in perspective...

A man rides nearly naked down Pennsylvania Avenue towards the US Capitol during the US version of the World Naked Bike Ride to draw attention to oil dependency. Picture: AFP / GETTY.

Also see Flickr set from darbofumi, World Naked Bike Ride DC 2008.