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Don Will Like This Upgrade!


Razors Edge

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5 hours ago, donkpow said:

Yes.

I'm pretty sure DC folks and Manhattanites pay more than their fair share of taxes, so if they don't complain, it would be odd if North Dakotans did except in jealousy?  So maybe Bismarck is needing a bike share system???

Tom

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This goes back to the same thing between you and I. This whole process is there to benefit people who can afford to get a bicycle and get some exercise. That's where your tax dollars are going, to make sure people don't have to invest in their own lives. And while we're at it, look how happy these programs make gov't employees.

2016-07-0712-38-35D4S_5543.jpg

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1 hour ago, donkpow said:

This goes back to the same thing between you and I. This whole process is there to benefit people who can afford to get a bicycle and get some exercise. That's where your tax dollars are going, to make sure people don't have to invest in their own lives. And while we're at it, look how happy these programs make gov't employees.

Which is true of all infrastructure - ie. it benefits the folks who can use it. But likewise, it can greatly impact folks who don't directly use it.  For example, a bike share reduces cars - on the roads, in traffic, parked at businesses, etc.. It likely also decreases Metro and Bus use.  A bike has almost no impact on a road system from wear & tear. A slightly healthier population is usually seen as a better thing. Cyclists are at risk of getting run over, so those numbers may go up. More cyclists mean more "eyes" on the town - likely resulting in lower crime, cleaner & safer roads & sidewalks, and higher levels of positive "energy".  Bad cyclists can pizz off a lot of folks.  Slower moving cyclists can stop and bolster small business since it is easier to spot local shops, easier to find a parking spot, and likely living at a slower "pace". 

So, yada yada yada, the gist of it all is that subsidizing a bike share program may be a huge WIN for a city or a waste of tax dollars that could have instead be used to fix crumbling infrastructure.  It isn't black or white, but I'd say it is a reasonable use of public dollars - especially in places where there is a nice bit of density.

Tom

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Only if you live in an area where people are falling all over each other.

Don't use federal dollars for bike programs. If locals want it, okay. Let the politicians answer to their constituency.  Whatever benefit you may imagine from the addition of these types of programs, it's still just a money grab by local gov't. Why do you think all those people are smiling in the picture above? It's not because they get to rent bikes to ride around downtown. It's because they just scored a bundle from the fed for the easiest job of their lives.

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2 hours ago, donkpow said:

Only if you live in an area where people are falling all over each other. 

Don't use federal dollars for bike programs. If locals want it, okay. Let the politicians answer to their constituency.  Whatever benefit you may imagine from the addition of these types of programs, it's still just a money grab by local gov't. Why do you think all those people are smiling in the picture above? It's not because they get to rent bikes to ride around downtown. It's because they just scored a bundle from the fed for the easiest job of their lives.

Well, that would and should never apply to the District of Columbia.  If they get statehood, sure, I see that argument (barely), but as the home of the Federal Government, the federal gov't has a responsibility to contribute to the city's coffers.

Sort of unfair, though for NYC to not get federal money for a bike share, but a ND farmer can get federal money for crop assistance. So, reform the whole system or embrace the greatness of bike share systems.

Tom

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...I'd like to take a moment to point out that this whole discussion is political, but it hasn't been moved because nobody else reads this section.

We have these electric, dockless, bikeshare bikes here in Sacramento now.   They are in the process of getting left all over the goddam place, locked to something.

 

Quote

In May, the cities of Davis, Sacramento, and West Sacramento, in partnership with JUMP, have launched the largest pedal-assist bike share system in North America. The system launched with 300 electric-assist bikes spread across the three cities, and an additional 600 bikes will be rolled out throughout the summer.  Bike share hubs will also be installed throughout the cities to add bike parking infrastructure.

Uber, the company behind Sacramento’s Jump bike-share program, said this week it has struggled to keep enough bikes on the street to meet demand but plans to address the problem starting Friday....

 

Uber plans to add another 400 bikes later this year, bringing the Sacramento total to 900 and making it one of the largest electric rental bike fleets in the country.

“Lack of bikes, that has been the biggest complaint,” Uber’s Sacramento spokesman, Austin Heyworth, said this week.

At any given point, about 30 percent of the bikes are down because they need maintenance or have run out of electrical charge. Heyworth said that percentage should drop as Uber’s Jump bike team hires more crews to do nighttime maintenance and as more charging stations get set up at local bike racks.

https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/transportation/article215495670.html

 

...a third of your fleet down for maintenance or repair on average is not an especially enviable statistic.  I don't know if Uber got grant money for this.

 

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14 hours ago, Page Turner said:

...I'd like to take a moment to point out that this whole discussion is political, but it hasn't been moved because nobody else reads this section.

EVERYTHING can be political.

14 hours ago, Page Turner said:

We have these electric, dockless, bikeshare bikes here in Sacramento now.

As do we. 

Capital Bikeshare would join Jump, the dockless bike provider that Uber acquired last April, in offering pedal-assist bikes in D.C. Jump currently operates 400 electric bikes under the rules of the dockless bike- and scooter-share pilot program that the District is running and just extended through December. (The pilot program only permits up to 400 vehicles per private operator, and officials say they are aiming to implement long-term rules in 2019.)

1 hour ago, donkpow said:

@Razors Edge should be banned.

Always a good idea.

Tom

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  • 4 months later...
On 9/13/2018 at 12:24 PM, Razors Edge said:

Which is true of all infrastructure - ie. it benefits the folks who can use it. But likewise, it can greatly impact folks who don't directly use it.  For example, a bike share reduces cars - on the roads, in traffic, parked at businesses, etc.. It likely also decreases Metro and Bus use.  A bike has almost no impact on a road system from wear & tear. A slightly healthier population is usually seen as a better thing. Cyclists are at risk of getting run over, so those numbers may go up. More cyclists mean more "eyes" on the town - likely resulting in lower crime, cleaner & safer roads & sidewalks, and higher levels of positive "energy".  Bad cyclists can pizz off a lot of folks.  Slower moving cyclists can stop and bolster small business since it is easier to spot local shops, easier to find a parking spot, and likely living at a slower "pace". 

So, yada yada yada, the gist of it all is that subsidizing a bike share program may be a huge WIN for a city or a waste of tax dollars that could have instead be used to fix crumbling infrastructure.  It isn't black or white, but I'd say it is a reasonable use of public dollars - especially in places where there is a nice bit of density.

Tom

They are on their third try here in this city and it's just making it I believe. And I am so disinterested.

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