Thursday, July 22, 2010

London Bike Sharing

My favorite place is London, and my favorite activity is bike riding.

So imagine my pleasure to find an article about a new bike sharing program in London, England.

According to the article, the program will be bigger (at least more bikes) than the one in New York. That's saying a lot, because the New York bike sharing program is pretty humungous.

I am really glad to see cities jump on the bandwagon of supporting and promoting bicycling among residents and visitors. It is good for health, environment, economy, and well-being. Oh, did I forget to mention it's a lot of fun, too.

I have only one word of advice to all of these cities. Don't forget the bike paths. Having loaner bikes, bike lanes, and fancy pamphlets is a start, but bike trails are essential. Many of us are still uncomfortable biking on streets, no matter how many bike lanes you have. It only takes one careless driver or rider to cause and accident and very possibly a death. Raised bike lanes such as the ones they have in Scandinavia are better, but still not as good as pedestrian and bike paths.

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