Things Not OK For This Share Program

Four years ago, while in Rome, I learned that the city’s bike share program ended after most of its bikes were stolen.  Many were disassembled and ended up in dumps, “chop shops” or the Tiber.

Similar fates befell bikes of Velib, the first iteration of Paris’ share program.  While some machines were tossed into the Seine or Canal Saint Martin, others turned up in Eastern Europe and North America.  The new iteration of the service includes improved security features.

Here in New York, I sometimes see Citibikes, which are easy to recognize because of their shape, painted flat black or other colors that aren’t Citibike blue.

Other cities have likewise discovered that their bike share programs’ biggest problems are not breakdowns or cost.  Rather, they are theft and vandalism.

That is what Oklahoma City is now experiencing. Ride OKC, the city’s share program, announced that it recently a third of its fleet in a short period of time.

I’ve never been to Oklahoma City.  From what I understand, it’s as auto-centric as many other places in Southern and Western US, though it’s mayor is trying to change that.  I hope the loss of those bikes doesn’t derail his efforts.

Cyclists' Safety: It Became Personal For Her

Yesterday, I wrote about how a beloved member of his cycling community is being commemorated:  The University of Texas at San Antonio opened the Tito Bradshaw Bicycle Repair Shop in a former information booth.

The reason why he's being commemorated is, unfortunately, terrible:  He was killed by an intoxicated driver while riding his bike.

Sometimes, it seems, it takes the death of a cyclist or pedestrian to bring the issue home and spur people into action--that is, when someone isn't trying to blame the cyclist, or cyclists in general, even if the driver was drunk, high, distracted or driving with a suspended license (or no license at all).  

For Chesley Ann Epley Cobbs (Does that sound like a Southern name, or what?), the issue of safety came home, literally, when her brother was killed while riding his bicycle in Oklahoma City.  


As personal as the issue is for her, she made the point that cyclists' safety is vital to the redevelopment of her city.  "Having safe and protected bike lanes connecting our downtown communities secures the safety of getting to and from those places of well-being and entertainment that you are working so hard to build and elevate our great state," she said in a hearing at City Hall.

She found a receptive audience in at least two City Council members.  One, Jo Beth Hamon, described rides that "should take minutes" but take much longer because "going through the neighborhoods, there was no connection" between bike lanes.  As a result, she had to cross major thoroughfares, including a highway, to take what is a typical days' ride for her.

Another Council Member, James Cooper, connected the safety of cyclists and pedestrians to the overall livability of the city.  In addition to a lack of cycling infrastructure, he said that sidewalks are unsafe "in even our most walkable neighborhood, award-winning neighborhood."  He wondered how "a child" could "get safely to school, to a park" in the conditions he described.

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The Council members and Ms. Epley Cobbs spoke at a public proposal meeting on how to spend public funding earmarked for public facilities.  I hope that others in the decision-making process--in other places as well as Oklahoma City--understand what Ms. Epley Cobbs, Ms. Hamon and Mr. Cooper are trying to say:  Ensuring the safety of people who get around without motor vehicles is a vital part of a modern city's development, or redevelopment.