A press release from Trek Bicycle
Trek Bicycle has donated a full B-cycle bike sharing system to the city of Madison, WI including an initial investment of $2,000,000 to ensure the system will operate in 2011. Recognizing the city’s current financial difficulties, Trek has agreed to waive the previously agreed upon annual contribution of $100,000 by the city in exchange for just $1 per year.
“Madison is our home and Trek is committed to making it a world class bike city,” said Trek president John Burke. “We are very excited to be able to give this gift to the city.” The initial Trek capital investment of $1.4 million will include all of the 35 stations and 350 bikes that will be placed throughout the city while the company will contribute $700,000 per year to cover the operational costs throughout the 5 year contract.
The investment also adds two years to the original agreement, ensuring that Madison residents and visitors are guaranteed to enjoy the benefits of B-cycle for a longer period of time. “This is going to be a great program for the people of Madison, our visitors and B-cycle,” said Madison’s Mayor Paul Soglin.
B-cycle is a next-generation bicycle sharing system that replaces the need for a car for short trips in, and around, urban areas. Since debuting in Denver, CO in 2010, B-cycle has been utilized over 100,000 times, 43% of which replaced a car trip in the city’s downtown area. In addition to Denver, B-cycle is currently operational in Chicago, IL, Des Moines, IA, San Antonio, TX, and Kailua, HI and will soon appear in Broward County, FL, Boulder, CO, Omaha, NE, Spartanburg, SC, and Madison, WI.
Trek is a remarkable company. It is clearly in the best interest of a bike company to promote bicycling, but Trek does it in a big way with a variety of advocacy projects. As a company they walk the environmental walk more than most. I spent a bit of time working with some of their folks and found them passionate about cycling in general and particularly in their own products, their company and making the world a better place. I had the sense that the employees considered themselves part of the company focused on a specific mission - the level of passion and an interest in design is something I rarely see - the place "feels" like Pixar and Apple. Of course if American bike use increased from the current <1% commuting figure to even a few percent (Denmark and the Netherlands are over 30%), companies like Trek would see enormous growth.
They has made regular bikes from the beginning, but have nurtured a big presence in various flavors of bicycle racing. In the past few years they have been making more bikes for people who want to use their muscles to displace burning gasoline. They see bike sharing as a piece of that puzzle. It is a remarkable change.
If you are toying with the idea of using a bike there are a several manufacturers that make excellent products - Trek is one of them. Probably the most important advice is to buy from a local bike shop. Bikes need to be properly fitted and a competent shop can also perform maintenance and other support including education. Large retailers rarely have employees on the floor with the necessary skills and many of the cheap bikes they sell are poorly built. It is possible to spend thousands of dollars on a specialized bike, but there are many solid commuters in the $400 to $1000 range.
In full disclosure I note that part of my warm feeling for Trek is the result of a very special bike they created for a friend - something she could not have done on her own as a bespoke frame was necessary.
A few years ago I corresponded with a Dutch transportation official who noted the relatively low infrastructure cost required to support their very high rate of active transportation (walking and biking for short trips) has saved a lot of tax money by lowering the need for very expensive support for cars. The people who participate in active transportation are measurably healthier and lower overall healthcare costs and their children are in much better physical shape than their American counterparts. He noted that most families were able to get by with a single car - "the need for two or more cars is a great tax placed on citizens by an inefficient and inappropriate infrastructure."
Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark have made great strides in promoting active transportation, but it took decades. The move was a response to the oil shocks of the 70s. The American response was to ignore efficient vehicles as the oil shock ended - that signaled the invention of the SUV and a dramatic increase in cars and light trucks per family.
John Pucker of Rutgers has written extensively on how the Dutch, Germans and Danes moved many of their citizens from a complete reliance on the automobile. Here is a nice summary in a paper he co-authored with Ralph Buehler that is well worth the read.
who looks after the animals ...?
Mark Bittman's column
The problem is the system that enables cruelty and a lack not just of law enforcement but actual laws. Because the only federal laws governing animal cruelty apply to slaughterhouses, where animals may spend only minutes before being dispatched. None apply to farms, where animals are protected only by state laws.
And these may be moving in the wrong direction. In their infinite wisdom the legislatures of Iowa, Minnesota, Florida and others are considering measures that would punish heroic videographers like the one who spent two weeks as an E6 employee, who was clearly traumatized by the experience. (I spoke to him on the phone Saturday, with a guarantee of anonymity.)
Minnesota’s “ag-gag” law — isn’t that a great name? — would seek to punish not only photographers and videographers but those who distribute their work, which means organizations like the Humane Society of the United States and Mercy for Animals, which contracted the videographer for the E6 investigation. “It’s so sweeping,” says Nathan Runkle, the executive director of Mercy for Animals, “that if you took a picture of a dog at a pet shop and texted it to someone, that could be a crime.” Unconstitutional? Probably, but there it is.
and
... But in “Bengal Tiger,” a Broadway play set at Baghdad Zoo, the tiger — played by Robin Williams — wonders: “What if my every meal has been an act of cruelty?” The way most animals are handled in the United States right now has to have all of us omnivores wondering the same thing.
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