Bike Share in LA

Los Angeles is getting a bike share program. According to the LA Times, it will be possible to rent a bike for $6 a day (the first 30 minutes is free). You can also get monthly and annual passes at a very reduced rate. We're a little slow here in LA considering we're supposed to be trend setters. New York, Washington DC, even Chicago and Denver all have bike sharing programs in place. And of course the Europeans have had them for ages.

Well better late than never, right? Actually yes - LA seems to have looked at other bike share programs and taken the best of many of them. Particularly impressing is the pricing which is well below the average. For example - New York wants $10 a day compared to $6 for LA.

Now many of you are probably thinking 'what kind of suicidal idiot wants to ride a bicycle in LA?' I used to think the very same thing myself. Now try this...

Browse to the Google.com website and click 'maps'. Search for 'Los Angeles', click [Get Directions] and then click on the little bicycle icon. All the bike paths, lanes, and routes in Los Angeles will show up in green. That's quite a lot of green, especially in nearby Orange County.

And how does this affect sports/recreational riders? The more people that can be persuaded to jump on a bike to get from their Metrolink station to work and back, the more drivers who will understand what it's like for us to share the road with cars. Maybe, just maybe, this will save lives.