causes & news

Wow, I really wish it were like this where I live. I would love to ride to the grocery store but I live near a lot of hills that don't even have sidewalks and I feel like that would be a deathwish here...

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let's face it. people are fat. fat is stored energy. if we can tap into the valuable source of energy, we may be able to get off of fossil fuels. how do we do this?

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Actually, I've always wondered why all those people pedaling on those stationary bikes in their gym and those on their walking machines (which I've been told consume a lot of electricity to run), are not connected to some huge dynamo and make the electricity to light up the gym they go to, heat up the pool of the same gym etc. If all citizens were "forced" to give one hour a day for instance of their time to produce electricity (taking shifts), there would be less fat people! I hope someone who runs a gym sees my post and uses my idea. Why not ?

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Yes, been to Holland, loved the "traffic", seen the bike racks in Belgium, too. But Paris has the METRO; if it ain't broke, don't fix it! You can get anywhere from the Pont Neuf to the Pere Lachaise w/o working too hard. Link to the train and you can do Versailles, easy. Take the bus for a real honest-to-God menhir (no, I don't know if Asterix and Obelix installed the Pierre aux Moines). Wish we did more with bikes but from London to NYC I've never seen anything hold a candle to the Paris Metro system.
Let me also say I'd like to get a bike, but a lot of cyclists annoy the hell out of me by using the road but not obeying traffic laws...if you're in the road, you ARE a vehicle, if you don't obey the laws, get into the sidewalk (and try not to bowl over too many pedestrians, huh?)

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Yea Amsterdam is good and very flat ideal for biking. However I am on the other side of the world in Sydney Australia and people say it is dangerous to cycle and on certain roads i agree but it is certainly the quickest way to get around in the City and immediate suburbs. We should have those bike pick up places and what about Car sharing Pools I have not heard of any here, that would help traffic flow. We need more Bus lanes too and Congestion charge could finance a lot of it. Would anyone with more knowledge of Sydney please respond. I have only been here four years and still learning Regards Alan

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I just read Paul diamond's remark, and he is correct. Once a bureaucracy like DC takes over an idea, forget it!

In the UK, there exists a super market with almost no checkout lines. Control over the baskets works this way. First, you arrange to pay the store by depositing money or making credit or debit withdrawal available.

You tour the aisles, and when you put something in the basket, which by the way, you put a pound into the slot to release it,) and every choice is added. If you put something back the reverse occurs.

When you leave, the store has already totaled up your bill, been payed, and you transport your purchases to wherever. When you return the basket to the lock dock, you get your pound back. Try to get out with something you didn't pay for, and the doors won't open.

So far, according to what I saw on BBC about this system last year, not only do people like it,and claim a minimum of store mistakes, (computer not updated, etc) the almost non- existence of check out cashiers, and lower crime insurance premiums allow the market to undersell the competition. re stocking is largely automated.

If it works for shopping carts, why can't the general principle work for bicycles?

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this is old news. Actually it has been going on in several European cities since as far back as the 1970s era. It is a great idea, but will never be allowed to take hold in the US, where cars are the religion.

On the continent public transportation was not suppressed in favor of private vehicles and tire companies as it was in the US after WWII.

Now with the advent of these temporary personal transportation methods, some cities in Europe are cleaning up their air, while people burn up their fat through exercise.

Why can't we do it? Better yet, why won't we do ti?

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The 'public' bikes are made to look different an odd color so they don't get stolen because they stand out.
They tried a shared bike plan in DC for congressional aides. The problem was that one had to get a key, which was dispensed from one office, to use the bikes. After you were done the key had to be returned. The whole process took too much time.
If a public transport option is to work it has to be cheap and easy.
~;^}>

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My dutch teacher told me that in the 60's they had a white bike policy. They painted the bikes white left them around the cities. Everyone could use them to get to thier next destination and leave it for someone else. It worked for a time then people started stealing and painting them. One thing I was amazed to see when first here is a housing around motor cycles . It rains a lot here so this works.I love the Netherlands. We have bikes trams metro clean buses etc. We also pay a lot of taxes to clean up the air.They recycle the water here also.

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Infrastructure should be provided that supports the ability to make green choices about life and transportation styles. Except in Winter, here in Vermont, I use an electric powered tricycle for all my errands. Vermont's primary source of electricity is renewable hydrapower. We are a fortunate state. Green choices are easy although some changes in infrastructure would facilitate green choice even more. Infrastructure for individuals living green by choice is less expensive to building and maintain than highways,

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