The Alamo? Not so much, but bike sharing service in San Antonio was the real thing (and maybe coming to a Michigan city near you?)

This woman does not come with the bike

Our trip to San Antonio would have been much, much different if not for their outstanding new Bcycle service, which allows people to check out bicycles and drop them off at numerous points throughout the city.

We rented cycles three days, pedaling ourselves to the point of heatstroke checking out places like the botanical gardens, the many tremendous Tex-Mex restaurants and the meandering Mission Bike Trail that follows the San Antonio River.

And of course we joined thousands of sweating, sloppy tourists ogling The Alamo, where an IMAX movie and lots of other "educational" materials explained the mission's historic and inspirational role in Americans stealing Texas from the Mexicans  standing up for freedom against the tyranny of Santa Anna.

But the cycles were the most pleasant surprise of the trip, allowing us to tour the city in a way we never otherwise would have been able to.

You just insert your credit card and select a bike from the rack. When you’re done, you find another rack (an easy Smart Phone app will locate them for you, but there were plenty of signs in the city too) and slide the bike in an empty slot, where it locks tight until the next user arrives

$10 per bike per day, plus fairly nominal charges for the time you use (the first half hour of every use is free).

My friend and colleague and Lansing City Council candidate  Rory Neuner is among a group trying to bring Bcycle to Lansing. I’ve heard several other Michigan cities are considering such programs, but I don’t know which for sure.

It’ll take some work in Michigan’s cities, which still are designed primarily for cars and NOT for pedestrians or cyclists. But that is changing and Bcycle might help that momentum. Bike lanes, curb cuts, great signage and the Riverwalk all helped make San Antonio’s work.

Honestly, I don’t know if we contributed any more cash to San Antonio’s economy than we would have if the Bcycle rentals weren’t available. But the whole Bcycle experience makes it far more likely that we will return one day. And we can recommend a trip to that town far more enthusiastically than we otherwise would have.

Linked to Michigan’s already outsanding trail networks, bicycle sharing programs in certain areas could be a great, low-impact way to market a region's best cultural, recreational and retail opportunities to visitors.

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Breaking News! Bicycles exposed by as a sinister plot by United Nations to control U.S. cities

Michigan has become the 14th state to adopt Complete Streets legislation that requires road planners to consider the needs of nonmotorized travel when designing roadways.

That includes, of course, bicycles.

But those carefree days when we believed bicycle use was harmless -- even beneficial -- has come to a cataclysmic, cruel and twisted end.

You see, the Republican candidate for governor of Colorado has learned the fearsome truth: Bikes are a sinister plot to turn Denver,and eventually the entire freedom-loving US of A into a puppet of the United Nations.

Denver’s B-Cycle program that provides 400 bikes for rent at locations across the city is part of a plot to “convert Denver into a United Nations community” and “threaten our personal freedoms.”

Dan Maes, a favorite of the Tea Party activists, warns that “this is all very well disguised, but it will be exposed.”

Clearly there’s a mole inside the bicycling community feeding Maes the truth, that the B-Cycle program, and Denver’s membership in a shadowy group promoting “gasp!” sustainable development is “part of a greater strategy to rein in American cities under a United Nations treaty.”

My suspicion is that the mole is the same person talking to Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh. How else would they have discovered that Climate Change is a tremendous worldwide conspiracy to keep grant money coming into to climate scientists?

In Michigan, a coalition of 60-plus environmental, cycling and public health groups – with support from the Michigan Department of Transportation -- supported the Complete Streets policy. It was billed as a harmless, enlightened move to help make it easier for cyclists and pedestrians to navigate downtown traffic.

Harmless? HA! “That’s exactly the attitude they want you to have,” Maes said.

If we are discriminating about who we elect to the State Legislature this fall; we can ensure that the diabolical Complete Streets legislation is repealed; once again making our cities safe from United Nations domination!


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Complete Streets passes the Michigan House! (posted quickly for the 20-somethings who use the Series of Tubes!)

I was going to wait until tonight to post this, but then the office interns told me they read Mitten State. So, because 20-somethings who are savvy about the series of tubes http://bit.ly/a5ninQ expect their news instantaneously, here it is: (as an aside, the interns were discussing String Theory today. WTF? Shouldn't interns be discussing beer and sports?)

This afternoon, the Michigan House of Representative passed Complete Streets legislation: http://bit.ly/9NXWkI It requires road agencies to consider and plan for non-motorized transportation when building or reconstructing new roads. This is a big step toward creating the type of bike- and pedestrian friendly infrastructure that is such an integral part of thriving downtowns across the nation. And a step away from building roads that are impenetrable fortresses for people trying to get across city streets.

Kudos to the House of Reps. I will try and add the "yes" and "no" vote tally soon so you can see who the heroes and villians are.
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