Comments on: Santa Clara VTA Proceeds with Bay Area’s First Bike Share Pilot Program

By: Peter Smith

Peter Smith — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 01:34:43 +0000

cyclist killed in front of De Anza college in Cupertino. there is a bike lane there, in front of De Anza -- at least, on the De Anza side of Stevens Creek Blvd. but the speed limit there is 35, which means cars are usually going about 45. three lanes of traffic in either direction, and then a car can zoom up on your right to enter the college. the area is right next to 85, so those cars will still be zooming on and off the freeway. no buffer for the bike lane at all -- make a small mistake, and you're in big trouble. not sure what happened in this case -- the area just seems very unsafe, inhospitable to pedestrians and bikes. there's another (the main?) entrance a bit further down (east). possible to get left-hooked there if on a bike.

By: Peter Smith

Peter Smith — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 01:14:49 +0000

bike share schemes seem to me to be extremely difficult to carry out, even under the best of circumstances, even with community buy-in. given the lack of quality of bike infrastructure in and around south bay (i’ve biked from sf to sj twice recently), i imagine there are myriad things you can do to have a greater positive impact on cycling that are not as risky or costly as bike sharing. just ask the SVBC folks — do they want an experimental bike sharing program, or do they want proven bicycle infrastructure that will definitely put more behinds on bike seats and make the Silicon Valley area a safer, more fun, more pleasant place to live, work, travel, play?

the cycletrack to/from Diridon seems like real winner — let’s do it. tell SVBC to get to outreach. install lots of bike parking in downtown SJ — there’s almost none right now. get some sharrows installed stat, followed closely behind by real bike lanes, and the real buffered bike lanes, and ultimately cycletracks. traffic-calm the area all around SJSU — a place absolutely desperate for walk and bike improvements. [why are we forcing all those kids to drive to school? it's totally insane.]

By: jass

jass — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:48:49 +0000

As someone who actually works for a bike share company, I can tell you that the real cost per bikeshare bike is around $1,000.

By: zsolt

zsolt — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:05:59 +0000

“Despite the much ballyhooed talk by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom that his city will implement a public bike share pilot”

Ah yes those times we actually had a mayor… instead of a sulking child.

By: Todd Edelman

Todd Edelman — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:03:06 +0000

Too tired for poetry:

1 – Mon Dieu! Now, Velib´ is up to three grand per bike? NYT recently said 2500, nobody believes it, is this higher price the cost of the whole system in someone’s estimate? The other vital question is how in the hell can we not know the costs of a public transport system, even if it is private, not “free” just no additional cost for first 30 minutes, and paid for by higher prices on the products which JCD pushes on us?

2 – Bicing in Barcelona is managed by Clear Channel but all or some of the money to run it comes from… car parking fees! I think this is temporary until the existing JCD or Cemusa advert contract expires….

3 – IF this is gonna benefit Google etc. why don’t they put some dough into the scheme?

4 – Hot + hills? Will E-bikes be desired?

By: Andy B from Jersey

Andy B from Jersey — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 22:57:53 +0000

Better yet, here’s the link:

http://www.callabike-interaktiv.de/kundenbuchung/process.php?proc=english&f=500

Oh yeah and it’s DeutSche Bahn (I forgot the S).

By: Andy B from Jersey

Andy B from Jersey — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 22:52:10 +0000

From just quickly reading the article it sounds like a Deutche Bahn bike rental system might be more appropriate.

Look it up Santa Clara and good luck!