[YellowBike] Bike Program ideas in Amsterdam

[aaron]

> ciao aaron! (forest? aaron? which one? :) )
>
i go by aaron mostly, maybe starting to use forest more.
i posted the previous messages to the yellowbike list. thanks.
>
> there are existing programs that i know of here in europe with 
> redistribution plans, like the services from Adshel in Rennes, or in 
> Norway. The citybike in Copenhagen (the oldest one, it's been working 
> since 1995).. the callabike in germany... and a few more....
> what i want to do is provide tourists with my service, residents 
> already commute up to 70% of the times with their own bikes. in small 
> islands like mine the problem is seasonal tourism: the population goes 
> up to 5 times as much, everybody arriving on a new car... they cant' 
> forbid access to cars, cause they at the same time live primarily of 
> tourism, but they're looking for ways to encourage people (tourists) 
> to leave the car in the parking place once arrived, and move with a 
> bike or a bus once on the island.
>> there are definitely some models of redistribution with cars and 
>> moving vans. i wonder if there are any existing bike programs like 
>> that. i'll ask around in the bike circles that i know. are you 
>> looking primarily to provide service to tourists or to residents? 
>> would a long-term bike rental be more efficient than distributed 
>> rental bike check in places?
>
> the island is very small, about 13000 people live there. the total 
> bikes in rental companies is a bit more, 15000, all rented out during 
> the summer.. in fact, bike rentals have a real power ther, for as 
> funny as it might seem. they have their little black market, and so 
> on.. islands are funny places...which means: they would never allow a 
> community bike program, but only something that brings them more 
> money. and they would never work too much together, either.

this is interesting to me. my immediate response is something like "so 
do it anyway." what can they do? i think with enough public support and 
media coverage, a community bike program or some non-free market 
capitalist program could totally get going in a super bike place. i've 
been thinking recently that at least where i have lived, people are so 
starved for real community efforts and interactions that when one 
happens that is at all accessible, it's gobbled up. i'm also in the 
outskirts of a radical anti-capitalist, anti-consumerism, anti-US 
government community that empowers me to think that simple things like 
bike collectives can change the world. maybe i'm wrong.

> the goal of my service is to convince even more people to use the 
> bike, like this: if you're old, and don't feel in good physical 
> conditions, or if you just want to go from the harbour to the beach 
> and than stay there a week without having to bring the bike back, but 
> also not pay for it, you can leave it somewhere on the way, in a 
> 'station'. i think at the moment many people are discouraged by 
> thinking they always have to bring it back...
> for example... the first time i went, i rented a bike at the harbour. 
> the rental company brought my luggage to my destination, 13 km from 
> the harbour. i used the bike during one week to move around everywhere 
> (also because the bus connections are very bad, so you have to go by 
> bike if you dont have a car). now, think of dutch winter, think of how 
> much wind there is on an island, and think you have to bike up to 40 
> km a day to catch up with your appointments... anyway, the last day i 
> had to leave... i had the bike i rented at the harbour, and i had the 
> luggage they brought me at the arrival... they dont offer the same 
> service for the return... so i had to bike to harbour, 13 km, take a 
> bus back, call a cab (finally hitchhike, actually..) to the harbour 
> with the luggage.
> this is because i didnt have a car. think now of a tourist that would 
> prefer to go without the car, but knows the situation... if you know 
> that bike use is facilitated by extra supporting services, maybe 
> you'll consider using it more often... i dont know i explained well 
> what i wanted to say, or if i made more confusion.. ?
>
that's really exciting that you could get your stuff dropped off. why 
wouldn't they offer the return service? as you've identified, it would 
make their market so much larger and their program more attractive to 
visitors. i think you're right on, that having bike use supported makes 
biking more attractive.

the city of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, has a lot of neat 
transportation programs. the university of BC in vancouver offers a lot 
of different car alternative services, which by themselves wouldn't be 
very convincing (to switch from driving) but all together make a 
convincing alternative. they offer free bike cart loans to carry stuff 
by bike, a universal bus pass to all university students and staff, and 
an emergency ride home insurance, where if you get stuck needing to 
call a taxi, they'll pay 90 percent of the bill, or something like that.

info at
http://www.trek.ubc.ca/

> so, my target is the tourists, and i cannot change the existing assets 
> of the bike rental market by adding community bike plans, it be 
> economically unsustainable for the island.
>
> in amsterdam there was, again, the white bike program till maybe 2 
> years ago. it started again around 2000, again with the same guy, Luud 
> Schimmelpennink, this time he  thought he would make people pay for 
> the service and lock the bikes, with access control, electronic id, 
> etc. they planned 45 stations (called 'depo') and i think some 
> thousands of bike. only 19 depo were built and none of them works now, 
> as far as i know.
> but you have to think that while a plan like this works perfectly in 
> berlin or copenhagen, amsterdam is a place where stealing a bike is 
> like stealing a bag of chips.. even here in delft where i live, which 
> is 40 km from amsterdam,you can buy a stolen bike for 10 euro. usually 
> not more. its such a common thing, if you see a bike unlocked it means 
> you can take it... and the students know it, so the rule is, you steal 
> mine i steal another... bikes are vital for commuting, but also as 
> worth as a bag of chips, really.. that's why you never park a good 
> bike outside, but in your house and buy an insurance for it, and 
> instead you move around with a 'stationfiets', a cheap ugly bike you 
> can leave anywhere.

we call those beater bikes here. most of the yellowbikes in our program 
would classify as beater bikes. any bike that used to be nicer is no 
longer around.

>  it sounds a bit absurd maybe, but dutch own bikes as you own a pair 
> of shoes... one of the students sport is 'bikefishing': literally 
> 'fishing' bikes from the canals...

this actually sounds like a lot of fun... we went bike dumpstering 
behind bike shops. not as exciting as pulling bikes out of canals. are 
all the bikes on your island the lovely 3 speed cruisers that I saw so 
much of when i was biking through the netherlands? is there a cultural 
status symbol associated with having a nicer bike, or a cruiser, or a 
new/old bike?

around here, old 3 speeds are prized. fixed gear track or road bikes 
are hot too. messengers and bike-lovers use them a lot in cities, 
sometimes without rim brakes.

>  so, you can imagine that if this is how much they value a bike, free 
> bikes in amsterdam couldnt work.. i think i've even seen one or two of 
> them riding around the center here, they sell tools good enough to 
> break a bike lock at the local supermarkets... all to say, stealing 
> bikes is not really seen as a crime as it is anywhere else.
do you have thoughts about solutions to this?

> if you want to know more about city bikes you should check out 
> copenhagen and berlin, or rennes, these are nice working services.
thanks
> wow, i wrote too much again, got a headache already my mess?
>
> what are you doing there anyway?
>
our bike program (that's what you were asking, right?) is for my 
college, Hampshire College, a small private liberal arts school in 
Massachusetts. we leave the bikes around campus, people pick them up 
and ride them, and when they're broken, people bring them behind the 
bike shop area and we fix them every friday. last year i had to collect 
all the broken bikes. this year other people are bringing them in. 
that's great. (to all yellowbikers: are any of you being super broken 
yellowbike angels?)

i'm studying the design of appropriate technology for ecological 
sustainability (sorry about all the buzz words). that means i get to 
look at alternatives to automobile transportation, community 
development through engagement in technology choices, and renewable 
energy possibilities, mostly on a small scale because that's where 
change is going to happen. i'm trying to start a biodiesel processor at 
hampshire, and i'm designing a cheap, easy to make bike cart that 
people can make for their communities, to decrease dependance on cars 
for moving stuff around.
that's me.

what do you do?

-aaron