Or the yellow bike wrangler, anyway.
There’s a big, great feature column on Christopher coming up in tomorrow’s local paper, but it’s already up online:
"Some kid had written his name all over it in magic marker," Rowe said. "I don’t think he’s going to be a very effective bike thief."
…
"One thing I’ve learned in terms of sociology reminds me of the legendary Old West attitude toward horse thieves," Rowe said. "I’m here to tell you that if you take one of these yellow bikes and put it behind your house, your friends, your neighbors, your landlord, your girlfriend … they are looking for an opportunity to rat you out."
Hee.
(Updated: New link with more pics! Also, you can now leave nice comments at the end of the story.)
I love the concept. I saw it at work a number of years ago in Portland and wished it was available in more cities.
Last August when I was in Paris they had just unveiled a program where you could do the same with bikes that were located at Metro stations. The bikes were all brand new, the lock system would accept money or Metro cards, and you could pick them up or drop them off at any Metro station with a stand. If I read the news item correctly (je nais parles paux whatever) the racks were tied into an electronic system that would alert a central office if there were no bikes or too many at any station.
And don’t get me started about Amsterdam.
Man, I miss being able to ride my bike here on the East Coast. The cities (and their drivers) just don’t care about cyclists or the roads.
*sigh*