Posted by Alfred W, a resident of the Old Mountain View neighborhood, on Oct 29, 2010 at 3:20 pm

Good idea, kind of like the "Velib" in Paris that became an instant success and other similar initiatives in europe

Web Link

Hopefully this will become a financially self sustained program that will not require city subventions in the long run

Posted by Paul M. Hogan, a resident of another community, on Oct 30, 2010 at 10:14 pm

Sadly, this will be a waste of money. Paris is just one of the pilot programs already: more than 20,000 bikes have had to be replaced as the result of theft and vandalism. See Steven Erlanger and Maļa de la Baume, "French Ideal of Bicycle-Sharing Meets Reality", The New York Times, October 30, 2009

Posted by Kristine, a resident of the Monta Loma neighborhood, on Oct 31, 2010 at 11:44 pm

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Bike. Parking. It's not the inability to get or rides bikes that's the problem. It's the lack of sufficient bike parking. There really should some bike parking zoning law put in place.

Posted by k, a resident of the Shoreline West neighborhood, on Nov 1, 2010 at 5:31 pm

Agreed with Kristine. Though, I think if somewhere in California is going to do a bike sharing program, Silicon Valley is a great place to start. It's so flat!

Posted by Political Insider, a resident of the Old Mountain View neighborhood, on Nov 1, 2010 at 10:26 pm

These programs eventually fail for the obvious reasons. Lets hope our council doesn't sink any money into this .

Posted by Simon, a resident of the Old Mountain View neighborhood, on Nov 2, 2010 at 4:08 pm

Why do the cynics love to rush in and criticize these programs.

Sure not all journeys can be done by bike but we sure dont need to take a ton of steel with us on every trip either. Go in with eyes open, the bikes will need maintaining and some idiots will vandalize them but these costs are small when stacked against the inefficiencies of moving all that metal around town. We subsidize motorised transport in so many ways its time to invest more wisely in an efficient solution. Less road maintenance, less parking lots, less pollution, less energy wasted and a healthier population as icing on the cake.

Posted by DCS, a resident of the Old Mountain View neighborhood, on Nov 2, 2010 at 11:35 pm

Anyone who lives in and/or near downtown Mountain View knows that there is a huge bike theft ring. I predict every bike will get stolen in a matter of months.

Posted by Kristine, a resident of the Monta Loma neighborhood, on Nov 3, 2010 at 4:42 pm

We have people are that desperate for a bike? Dang, someone better open a bike shop.

Posted by Political Insider, a resident of the Old Mountain View neighborhood, on Nov 4, 2010 at 7:15 am

"Why do the cynics love to rush in and criticize these programs."

because you dont use your own money to start these programs. If you think its a good idea, then open up a bike rental shop with your own money