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London to start bike sharing
Six thousand matching black, silver and blue bicycles are about to hit the streets of London as the city joins others around the world in launching a public bike sharing scheme.
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/07/22/l...
I wonder whether anything like this could ever work in Sydney?
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... and saw a similar set up. It was great to see clusters of hire bikes spread across the city. Gotta love a city that openly encourages more cycling eh. Don't know if the first 1/2 was free as it made no difference to me .... I couldn't ride any of them as I didn't have a helmet. And no opportunity to hire / borrow one. Sure hope the infrastructure has been set up based on locals using the service as all the tourists (like me) are ruled out due to the helmet laws. Epic fail ? Hope not .....
There's a piece here on the silly laws in Melbourne:
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/helmet-law-mak...
While a helmet could be a good thing for people who ride fast on a serious commute, I would imagine that the average bike share user will be a more relaxed rider who doesn't want to work up a sweat. The bike share would allow them to ride gently. Do people riding like this need helmets? Many cities around the world think not.
FWIW, I lived in Amsterdam for around a year and of course no-one there wears a helmet. People don't ride that fast either, it's all nice and relaxed, and of course the infrastructure is much better. Same in many other European cities. You also note that the Dutch are massive fans of road racing where... yes... they wear helmets.
It's pretty sad that Australian attitudes seem closer to those of the US of A (and we all know what that 'A' stands for) than Europe where many of it's migrants are from
Vote on the above mentioned article and show support.. will probably not make a huge difference, but it's still so easy to do!!
Don't forget, Euro cities also feature better drivers then our cities. Better toward cyclists at least.
Regardless of what occurs in cities abroad, cyclists in Australia really ought to wear a helmet always. Most drivers are dangerous dickheads. It hurts to point this out of my own countrymen but it's true.
Here's a pic my mate took of the new Barclays Bikes in London http://twitpic.com/29sm0g