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City's bike-sharing program to begin Friday morning
Metro’s new bike-share program will begin this Friday morning at Shelby Park, when Mayor Karl Dean leads a group of cyclists from Shelby Park to downtown.
Under the bike share plan, originally scheduled to start in the spring but postponed because of the flood, anyone will be able to borrow one of 30 bikes at two monitored locations — Music City Star’s riverfront station and Shelby Bottoms.
Dean’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee recommended the plan.
Bikes must be returned before the end of the day. Participants are required to show their driver’s license to pick up one of the 30 single-speed bikes, a helmet and a lock. Rental is free. Metro workers will monitor stations.
Next spring, the program is poised to dramatically expand, with 10 solar-powered unmonitored parking stations set to dot various locations across county. There, riders will swipe cards to lock and unlock the bikes themselves.
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This could be a great program if it's done correctly. It has been tremendously successful in other cities; Paris has thousands of these free bikes and cannot keep up with the demand and useage.
Who flips the cost for maning the stations, repairing the bikes and keeping the area's safe and clean? So if you under 16 without a parent or a licensed driver you cant take advantage of this program? Is Nashville a biking kinda town like Paris?
This is a fantastic way to increase the attractiveness of the commuter train and clear a bit of the downtown traffic. Adding bike lanes and trails inside the Briley / 440 loop where speed limits are over 25 would complete the transformation and bring new life to downtown. Nashville might get a little healthier in the process.
Way to go Nashville!
This is a wonderful step in the right direction, and I hope Nashville keeps it up. But, I'll add, this program won't really take off until there is a full system of bike lanes. A forward-thinking mayor of Paris added bike lanes (some with a small curb or median to keep cars out) and that made all the difference. If you built it, they will ride!
Paris's program plagued by theft and vandalism...
Eighteen months into a wildly successful launch, the Parisian bike-sharing program Vélib - a portmanteau of vélo (bicycle) and liberté (freedom) – has run into serious problems with theft and vandalism of the bikes. Launched in 2007 as part of an effort to “green” Paris, now over half of the original 15,000 customized bikes have been stolen, in a mania some have dubbed the “Vélib extreme”.
Since the program’s inception, the bike sharing network has been used 42 million times, but almost all the original, supposedly “vandal-proof” bikes have been replaced at a cost of 400 euros each.
Some of the Vélib bicycles have been found hanging from lampposts, dumped in the Seine River, smashed and burned. There are even videos online showing riders taking them down the steps into the métro or onto BMX courses
"Problem of public order"
Remi Pheulpin, director general of JCDecaux, the private advertising company that runs the bikeshare scheme, says they can no longer afford to maintain the program. "It's simple. All the receipts go to the city. All the expenses are ours," he said.
The costs are so great, says Pheulpin, that “a private business cannot handle it alone, espcially as it's a problem of public order. If we want the velib set-up to keep going, we'll have to change the business model.”
I missed three lights last week because the cyclist insisted on riding in the center of the automobile lane. I am not for any unlicensed vehicle or driver being on the street, especially until some mayor decides to address the traffic problems rather than greenways and bike trails. The last one to at least attempt improvements was Bonner.
There was a time when the only things that we had to watch out for were inconsiderate runners on narrow streets.
I am amazed at the number of cyclists who drive on the side walk, cutting in and out of traffic, going the WRONG way and NOT obeying traffic signals, as if the bikes aren't vehicles.
I think the bikes will be fodder for the thieves and bike parts network. OUR tax dollars satisfying someone's dream and ego.
If someone wants to ride a bike, they can buy one, steal one from a neighbor kid OR now, steal one from Metro!
FLeFew
"I missed three lights last week because the cyclist insisted on riding in the center of the automobile lane."
Bicycles are subject to the same laws as motor vehicles, and must operate in the same lanes. That biker was doing the right thing.
Your attitude, Kosh, is exactly why many motorists hate bicyclists. Give and take on both sides would be the bicyclist moving over or stopping while stacked up auto traffic passed and the motorist patiently waiting for it.
What's the over/under on the number of days until all the "shared" bikes have gone missing?
Kosh III
"Bicycles are subject to the same laws as motor vehicles, and must operate in the same lanes. That biker was doing the right thing."
Then they are a public nuiscance and should be removed from the road!!!
Great way to get around downtown. Saves on fuel. Any bike pathways?
And if they are subject to same laws, they should obey minimum speed limits or move over till backed up traffic gets by.
@ Kosh
"Then they are a public nuiscance and should be removed from the road!!!"
This is America, the cyclists have the same right of access to the roads and you do as a motorist and you have to share them. I'm surprized you would suggest such an un-American solution to bicycle/motorist conflicts.
This is a good program. Lets expand it. Maybe add some traffic calming measures too, although it sounds like a few motorists are suffering from chronic road-rage and probably aren't safe to be around at any speed.
-MythOfTheNobleSavage