Yellow jersey vs black cabs?
Was reading in the paper that Paris is having a biking renaissance at present. Of course, any city where the public transport grinds to a halt every time some onion-eating type takes all his mates out on strike in order to have a long weekend is bound to provoke a strong inclination to independent transport, but it's good to see that Parisians are turning to two wheels, rather than four.
Paris is operating a variation of a scheme that has existed in Holland for years, with their famous 'white bikes'. The idea is that there are designated bike racks all round the city. You put in your token, a bike is released and you peddle to point B, park it in another rack and wander off. The bikes are all owned by the city and you have to be a registered user of the scheme in order to have access to the bikes.
Surely such a scheme would be just the job for London. Indeed, I have devised a way to enhance it. Instead of the traditional bike as used by the French, which no doubt comes ready-fitted with a strand of onions over the handlebars, the London bikes could be those ones that can be peddled to build up a charge in their small electric motor, then ridden like a moped when you're feeling lazy.
You could have two different charges, one for people that peddle, and one for people with enormous arses that want to use the charge built up by hideously fit lance Armstrong in a suit types. Or if you were the boss, you could have the office junior peddle round the block a few times to build up enough charge to get you to your club.
There's no doubt that there are enough lazy people in the city who would jump (well, stroll) at the chance of a motor assisted jaunt on a bike, and there's no doubt either that there are enough masochists out there willing to peddle and charge up the engine for them.
How to pay for the scheme? Jack up the congestion charge to a tenner!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1547661,00.html
Paris is operating a variation of a scheme that has existed in Holland for years, with their famous 'white bikes'. The idea is that there are designated bike racks all round the city. You put in your token, a bike is released and you peddle to point B, park it in another rack and wander off. The bikes are all owned by the city and you have to be a registered user of the scheme in order to have access to the bikes.
Surely such a scheme would be just the job for London. Indeed, I have devised a way to enhance it. Instead of the traditional bike as used by the French, which no doubt comes ready-fitted with a strand of onions over the handlebars, the London bikes could be those ones that can be peddled to build up a charge in their small electric motor, then ridden like a moped when you're feeling lazy.
You could have two different charges, one for people that peddle, and one for people with enormous arses that want to use the charge built up by hideously fit lance Armstrong in a suit types. Or if you were the boss, you could have the office junior peddle round the block a few times to build up enough charge to get you to your club.
There's no doubt that there are enough lazy people in the city who would jump (well, stroll) at the chance of a motor assisted jaunt on a bike, and there's no doubt either that there are enough masochists out there willing to peddle and charge up the engine for them.
How to pay for the scheme? Jack up the congestion charge to a tenner!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1547661,00.html
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home