KC Bike share

[smh]

Also worth noting that 24-hour passes are free today, although you are charged for usage above 30-minutes at a time. I'd imagine that's helping the popularity today!

I think I might check one out to go to the grocery store on the way home--it will enable me to carry a 12 pack of beer instead of the usual sixer. 1 step forward...

[earthling]

It's getting significant use already. The bike count for several stations are changing significantly every 5 minutes.

[KCPowercat]

Great media coverage....KCTV5 overhead....my guess is Blue KC has a lot of riders who volunteered today, hence Crown Center/Union Station gets slammed.

[shinatoo]

Just got back. I will have pics and a review soon. I need to shower and drink about three gallons of Propel. Fun times!

[earthling]

Just tried it. If you have an annual pass, don't use the kiosk. Go straight to the bike you want, press the silver button by the lights for that bike. When they light up put your pass card on the square behind the silver button. It's an RFID card.

They need to display instructions on the kiosk for those who try to put the bcard in the kiosk. I had to learn the hard way.

The bikes are kinda heavy BTW but they are 3 speed bikes and the seat is easy to adjust. I kinda felt like the wicked witch of the west with that giant basket. Got lots of looks. That basket will be great for carrying several things, it's fairly large for a bike basket.

[KCPowercat]

Day 2 and a couple observations...

- Need stops in the north crossroads, cosentinos, 18th/vine, westside.
- The calculations on my profile seem to be double the mileage. Mapped out what I rode today and its almost double what the website says
- Little glitch in the system around noon today it seemed as tried to check out a bike at 12:30 after checking one in at noon and it wouldn't accept my card. About 10 minutes later got the text that my noon bike was returned. Not a big deal but little nervous I didn't check in a bike right.
- LOTS of people stopping and talking about it. Comments like "Maybe KC is actually starting to get it" were really cool to hear.
- Doesn't seem like a lot of people are using them yet but bikes do seem to move around so maybe they are
- I think 45 minutes would be better instead of 30 for free.
- Be cool if the site could give stats like how many bikes are out, most popular stations, etc...
- Bikes are very sturdy...even an inexperienced rider like myself got back into the swing of things quickly.
- Water bottle holder would be nice....basket seems to suffice.

[earthling]

Is a pretty good launch with no hiccups/bugs so far from what I can tell. But they did make a mistake not putting a station near Consentino's. That could be the number one destination for downtown residents. I'm thinking they actually bought 20 stations and can place up to 8 more. Can anyone confirm? Need to push for a station at the market. Maybe if enough of us post on twitter, they'll get it done.

River Market will need another station after Consentino's - near Deleware. Stations should be placed in nearby pairs in case one station is full, another nearby could be used to return a bike. With the loner station at RM, it would be a long haul to return a bike.

I see the station counts changing throughout the day but I'd imagine it would be even more active if it weren't so freakin hot.

[KCPowercat]

Yes, another City Market station at like 5th and Delaware would be great.

Problem with Cosentinos is sidewalks are all very narrow...maybe inside the garage?

[scooterj]

River Market will need another station after Consentino's - near Deleware. Stations should be placed in nearby pairs in case one station is full, another nearby could be used to return a bike. With the loner station at RM, it would be a long haul to return a bike.

Agreed. When I read on the web site what you are supposed to do if you are returning a bike and all the slots are full, my first thought was "Well, that's going to suck if your destination happens to be the River Market." 5th & Delaware is a perfect spot for a second RM kiosk. Cafe al Dente and whatever that little coffee shop is called this year might even see a little boost from having a bike station there.

[earthling]

So I heard they have 8 more stations purchased and haven't determined where to place them. One of their posts says this rollout was just the first phase. Hopefully other stations come sooner than later.

Suggestions for next stations..
- Consentino's
- 5th/DE
- Hospital Hill/Longfellow
- SW Blvd
- 18th/Vine

The latter 3 would need to be in pairs per reasons discussed. Where else?

Hopefully next year there will be enough interest to expand into Midtown/Westport/Plaza areas. I wonder if there is a search going on for Midtown to Plaza sponsors.

[bobbyhawks]

Suggestions for next stations..
- Consentino's
- 5th/DE
- Hospital Hill/Longfellow
- SW Blvd
- 18th/Vine

The latter 3 would need to be in pairs per reasons discussed. Where else?

17th and Summit
16th and Baltimore
16th and McGee
Freighthouse District
Liberty Memorial Mall

I think Columbus Park would be cool, but I'm not sure that it makes sense from a next steps standpoint.

I like your suggestions of 5th and DE, SW Blvd (and Summit), and Cosentino's. Hospital Hill and 18th and Vine seem like a bit of a reach. I'd prefer we fill in the area before expanding the territory too much.

[earthling]

A co-worker asked what months it operates and I can't find it online. Is it April through November?

[earthling]

If there are extra stations purchased for Special Events, central Xroads could use another for First Friday. No bikes were available during FF last night.

[aknowledgeableperson]

An article to share. Don't worry the item below doesn't reflect the whole article.

Jeff Frings has a talent for attracting insults. Soda bottles have been hurled at his head without warning. He's been called unprintable names by people who don't know his actual name. He's been sideswiped and rear-ended and run off the road more times than he can count. Red Sox fans wandering through Yankee Stadium have been subject to less abuse from complete strangers than Frings has on the streets of his hometown, Milwaukee.

So what's his problem? It's simple: he's an avid bicyclist. Over the past few years, Frings--a 46-year-old photographer who bikes well over 100 miles a week--has kept video of his rides, taken from cameras mounted on his helmet and his handlebars, because he wanted visual evidence of his encounters with aggressive drivers. (He now uploads the video to his website bikesafer.blogspot.com. Frings has suffered more than a few injuries in scrapes with cars, but what really stands out is the gratuitous hostility. It's not just that inattentive drivers fail to give him the three feet of space required by law. It's that they're galled by his very presence. "They think that you don't belong on the road," says Frings, "and they're trying to teach you a lesson."

In many ways, there's never been a better time to be a bicyclist in the U.S.



Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/artic ... z1zyA534OQ

[longviewmo]

An article to share. Don't worry the item below doesn't reflect the whole article.

Jeff Frings has a talent for attracting insults. Soda bottles have been hurled at his head without warning. He's been called unprintable names by people who don't know his actual name. He's been sideswiped and rear-ended and run off the road more times than he can count. Red Sox fans wandering through Yankee Stadium have been subject to less abuse from complete strangers than Frings has on the streets of his hometown, Milwaukee.

So what's his problem? It's simple: he's an avid bicyclist. Over the past few years, Frings--a 46-year-old photographer who bikes well over 100 miles a week--has kept video of his rides, taken from cameras mounted on his helmet and his handlebars, because he wanted visual evidence of his encounters with aggressive drivers. (He now uploads the video to his website bikesafer.blogspot.com. Frings has suffered more than a few injuries in scrapes with cars, but what really stands out is the gratuitous hostility. It's not just that inattentive drivers fail to give him the three feet of space required by law. It's that they're galled by his very presence. "They think that you don't belong on the road," says Frings, "and they're trying to teach you a lesson."

In many ways, there's never been a better time to be a bicyclist in the U.S.



Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/artic ... z1zyA534OQ

From how I've seen bicyclists treated around KC, I probably wouldn't ride without a camera either. No wonder why they're always in groups anymore.

[earthling]

I've been biking midtown for many years (and sometimes downtown) and have no issues with drivers because I don't bike down major roads, just cross them. When driving, it's annoying to see bicyclists on Main or Broadway as if they own the road - they simply don't. It's just asking for trouble and can be easily avoided by using secondary roads. I feel very comfortable biking down, say Walnut through downtown taking up a lane. It's such a slow street for cars anyway.

Have used bike lanes in other cities and don't like them at all on major roads, they just provide a false sense of security and probably cause more problems than solve. Bike lines aren't really needed on secondary roads (especially in KC) but probably would be better in the end since it would take bikers off the primary roads and encourage them to use secondary.

[KCPowercat]

An article to share. Don't worry the item below doesn't reflect the whole article.

Jeff Frings has a talent for attracting insults. Soda bottles have been hurled at his head without warning. He's been called unprintable names by people who don't know his actual name. He's been sideswiped and rear-ended and run off the road more times than he can count. Red Sox fans wandering through Yankee Stadium have been subject to less abuse from complete strangers than Frings has on the streets of his hometown, Milwaukee.

So what's his problem? It's simple: he's an avid bicyclist. Over the past few years, Frings--a 46-year-old photographer who bikes well over 100 miles a week--has kept video of his rides, taken from cameras mounted on his helmet and his handlebars, because he wanted visual evidence of his encounters with aggressive drivers. (He now uploads the video to his website bikesafer.blogspot.com. Frings has suffered more than a few injuries in scrapes with cars, but what really stands out is the gratuitous hostility. It's not just that inattentive drivers fail to give him the three feet of space required by law. It's that they're galled by his very presence. "They think that you don't belong on the road," says Frings, "and they're trying to teach you a lesson."

In many ways, there's never been a better time to be a bicyclist in the U.S.



Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/artic ... z1zyA534OQ

I missed what this had to do with the KC bike share?


Ran into my first empty station today when I wanted a bike...no big deal, just walked through the all star crowd instead.

[earthling]

It appeared to be an obscure FUD post implying bicycling in the city is dangerous, seemingly implying the bikeshare program is too risky. I just checked and typically >40K die in car wrecks each year, yet typically <1K die on bikes/year (bike/car accidents). That said, there are a lot of not-so-bright cyclists out there who do not ride defensively enough and expect cars to yield or always pay attention to them - not wise.

Also was looking at bicycle accidents in San Fran (major cyclist city) and found that it's the main drags that have the most bicycle accidents - the most are on Market St (even though most of it has a bike lane). Nearly every death was on major roads with bike lanes. There were no deaths on secondary roads w/out bike lanes. That supports my last post that cyclists are better off sticking to secondary roads with no bike lanes than major roads with bike lanes.

[chingon]

It appeared to be an obscure FUD post implying bicycling in the city is dangerous, seemingly implying the bikeshare program is too risky. I just checked and typically >40K die in car wrecks each year, yet typically <1K die on bikes/year (bike/car accidents). That said, there are a lot of not-so-bright cyclists out there who do not ride defensively enough and expect cars to yield or always pay attention to them - not wise.

I know, as a bike/bus commuter, that riding on sidestreets, especially in a gridded city like KC, is the safest available option. However, I have always understood biking to be, per mile, far and away the most dangerous form of transportation. Much of that, however, is directly attributable to the interface of cars and bikes.

I disagree strongly with your position on bike lanes, but I would like to see data one way or the other on their efficacy in reducing bike/car crashes before I take a position on whether or not they provide a false sense of security. To me, if they reduce accidents, then the sense of security they provide is not false at all.

A segment of the bicycling community, in my opinion a segment too caught up in the "streets belong to everyone" dogma, seems more interested in asserting bicycles place on roadways, instead of advocating for the occum's razor solution of increasing bike lanes and separating them from traffic when possible. A position I would argue has been detrimental to the goal of increasing the share of cycling as a mode of commuting and encouraging new ridership. Curiously, these same people seem to understand why a sidewalk is a better pedestrian option than "walking in the street". In fact, upgrading sidewalks and establishing a set of "ride on the sidewalk" routes (with colored or painted concrete and rideable curbcuts, seems like a better solution to me than insisting that drivers just magically get better at sharing the road.

[pash]

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