SFist: Waiting for the Bus is About to get TOTALLY RAD

sagitta100

Sun, 28 Oct 2007 16:31:25 -0800

The reason public bike sharing in San Francisco can't work is simple: The bikes will all be stolen within a week of launch.

sagitta100

Fri, 26 Oct 2007 13:16:36 -0800

Will they be adding any bus shelters? I live in the Outer Sunset and we have hardly any.

gnpasquali

Fri, 26 Oct 2007 11:24:43 -0800

There is a great article about the user-friendliness, success, and security issues related to the bike sharing in Paris from the New York Times on October 14th, called PARIS; Finding Liberté on Two Wheels http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A01EED6113EF937A25753C1A9619C8B63

numan

Fri, 26 Oct 2007 09:50:17 -0800

how long before those speakers are announceing adverts in between arrival times? Any provisions for this? I have a horrible vision of waiting for a bus while being forced to listen to an nonstop loop of radio-style advertising

mariconsoy

Fri, 26 Oct 2007 09:48:18 -0800

Why didn't they combine the "safe injection" concept into the shelters, reserving a small private area in each to shoot up? Then the addicts could take a bus or bike, so as not to endanger others by driving. Maybe the next generation of shelters will be made entirely of large plasma panel walls. That way 3 or 4 different commercials can play at the same time for the trapped passengers waiting for a bus.

iris

Fri, 26 Oct 2007 08:03:59 -0800

I think the bike sharing thing is a great idea...when folks get tired of waiting for their bus, they can say "Fudge it," and ride away. Probably only to get hit by the bus they were waiting for.

MistahHM

Fri, 26 Oct 2007 01:10:25 -0800

Yo, the bike sharing thing is gonna work just fine. People who jump on the sharing thing are going to make some money. This sort of feel good inc, clever party trick is what the Gavster's people are good at. Y'all just got to figure out which sharing scheme the ClearChunnel people are favoring (there are only a few viable options), then see what sort of infrastructure they'll use. The bikes will weigh a ton and will be impossible (at first) for the crackheads to steal and part out. They will only be able to sell cut up bike chunks for scrap instead of channeling them to the bike parts mafia to be shipped elsewhere. The question is, will people be able to pedal the battleship tank-bikes up an down SFs hills. I've seen a nextbus pushbutton thing at the duboce church 22 and J shelter. It sounds pretty good... for 1997! I think that they are hiring voice over robot, Joshua from WarGames. Must be a union thing. SHALL WE PLAY A GAME?

Agent510

Thu, 25 Oct 2007 19:45:16 -0800

The only place in America this could work is a small-enough college-town kind of place with civic-minded residents, like Madison, WI or Burlington, VT. In SF? Forget it. The crackheads would steal so many bikes the first few days, they'd be able to start their own bike-sharing service.

KatyG

Thu, 25 Oct 2007 18:36:56 -0800

Didn't Seattle do a bike-share thing that lasted a few days until all the bikes were stolen and repainted?

aj

Thu, 25 Oct 2007 16:29:16 -0800

Bike sharing can work if there is a rental system (Velib, Call A Bike) that bills thhe user if he steals it. But I agree, the bad guys will probably find a way to break it. And SFPD won't do shit. I hope "self sustaining", as it refers to bike sharing, means "not taking any funding from Muni." Meanwhile, the big question: will the Nextbus signs be visible from further away? They need to be much, much bigger than the current ones. Oh, and they should speak Nextbus info out when someone pushes a button, not just randomly. That would get annoying really fast.

bluecanary

Thu, 25 Oct 2007 16:27:13 -0800

I agree. I think it's a great idea, but unfortunately, a lot of the people here do not possess a Parisian mindset. Isn't this the bike theft capital of the world, anyway? Sure seems that way. This will just provide more bikes for the hoboes/crack fiends to steal and then re-sell. can't they just use the money to instead make the subway more functional, as referenced above? I'd love those bridge and tunnels who flood my neighborhood with drunk drivers on the weekends to have a viable public transit alternative.

jacksevanroo

Thu, 25 Oct 2007 16:18:14 -0800

I think the shelter design could be improved by incorporating the smell of freshly baked cookies. That would cover up the stench of the the bicycle sharing program when it meets its inevitable death.

RinconHillSF

Thu, 25 Oct 2007 16:17:52 -0800

Count me as a skeptic on the bicycles - if it ain't bolted down, somebody steals it in this town (especially things with wheels)

ievans

Thu, 25 Oct 2007 16:15:36 -0800

The bike sharing thing I just saw in Paris looked pretty cool, and was used extensively. Then again, Paris has an amazing subway system that--get this--is a network around the city, rather than a funnel to a single street. Those wacky cheese-eaters! Mr. Mayor is eyeing that bus shelter model just like the rack on that chick from his drunky days. He must like it a lot.

sangfroid826

Thu, 25 Oct 2007 15:50:09 -0800

The new shelters also cure cancer.

Berkeleyite

Thu, 25 Oct 2007 15:45:55 -0800

Clear Channel, the folks that bring you Rush Limbaugh and the All-Stars of RightWingRadio, presents the SF bike-share dealio! Also, free money, world peace & rainbows that don't smell like shit! Expect it sometime in 3129 CE or 256 MY (Martian Years) for you Martian tourists visting the Bay Area!

SanFranCitizen

Thu, 25 Oct 2007 15:29:54 -0800

Uh what is the bike sharing dealio plan? Clear Channel sucks. I can't wait to vote no on Prop K. It won't really do much... but it'll make me feel good. Yes on A! No on H!

Brock Keeling

Thu, 25 Oct 2007 14:17:45 -0800

I'm concerned, intrigued about sitting on so much San Francisco butt-warmth.