Baltimore Bike Share Locks No Match for Theives

[SpokeValley]

This just struck me as sad/funny.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/bs-md-bike-share-update-20170913-story.html

[LegendRider]

I like Baltimore, but this is insane.

BALTIMORE (AP) — Baltimore could surpass New York City in homicides this year.

The Baltimore Sun reports that for the first time Baltimore, with a population of less than 620,000, could record more murders in a single year than New York, which has a population of 8.5 million.

As of Sept. 3, Baltimore has recorded 238 homicides, while New York City has seen 182 murders. That breaks down to roughly 50 killings per 100,000 people in Baltimore, and just 3.9 killings per 100,000 people in New York.

[MattTuck]

I smell a reboot of "The Wire".

[lucieli]

What a shame. I have long been a fan/customer of the Hubway system in Boston. Hope they can sort this out.

[OtayBW]

Someone commented to me recently about why, after all this Charlottesville mess recently - ostensibly to protest the removal of Confederate artifacts - these same protesters did not come to Baltimore for the removal of several Confederate statues. Yeah - it would have been interesting to see what kind of 'greeting' they would have gotten in Baltimore....

[dbh]

Someone commented to me recently about why, after all this Charlottesville mess recently - ostensibly to protest the removal of Confederate artifacts - these same protesters did not come to Baltimore for the removal of several Confederate statues. Yeah - it would have been interesting to see what kind of 'greeting' they would have gotten in Baltimore....It's because the mayor took them all down

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[OtayBW]

Yes - I understand that. I'm saying that I didn't see any of these tiki-torch folks showing up to protest in Baltimore.... wonder why?...

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[velofinds]

This saddens me a little. I know they have their fair share of problems, but speaking purely as a visitor (as I've never lived there) I really liked Baltimore..

[jmoore]

$11,000 per bike!

[drewellison]

After the City of Seattle (don't ask me about the elected city leaders - my mother said if you can't say ...) lost millions of dollars trying to run a bike share program, they finally shut it down and now we've got the free market giving it a go.

http://money.cnn.com/2017/08/18/technology/business/seattle-bikeshare/index.html

I work in Ballard and those orange and green (and now yellow) bikes are everywhere! I hope they are successful!

[ojingoh]

After the City of Seattle (don't ask me about the elected city leaders - my mother said if you can't say ...) lost millions of dollars trying to run a bike share program, they finally shut it down and now we've got the free market giving it a go.

http://money.cnn.com/2017/08/18/technology/business/seattle-bikeshare/index.html

I work in Ballard and those orange and green (and now yellow) bikes are everywhere! I hope they are successful!

Yup. Those programs are Chinese-style bike sharing- More: https://www.cnbc.com/2017/07/18/bike-sharing-boom-in-china-pedals-to-new-heights.html

[cachagua]

Listen, are we off the Baltimore murder rate and on Seattle's bike share deal? Because I have an opinion about that.

I work in Ballard and those orange and green (and now yellow) bikes are everywhere! I hope they are successful!

Those orange and green and yellow bikes are litter. I live immediately south of Ballard, and on any day, I can find a couple dozen of them, on public and private property, within half a mile of my house.

CNN says, "The downside of China's explosive growth is piles of unused bikes stacking up in some cities. So far, Seattle has prevented that." Uh, which Seattle did you visit, CNN? It was a beautiful idea, to think that people would just spontaneously do something responsible with the bike they rented, when they're done riding it, but it was hopelessly naive.

Does Spin have 20 people monitoring its bikes in Seattle, and is the team going to grow? That's nice, but it's hard to see a really thorough bike-recovery effort being cost-effective -- which it would have to be, because, never forget, these bike share companies aren't in business to make the world a better place. If being allowed to finish your ride by simply taking your hands off the handlebars increases ridership enough that the companies can prosper, then their mission is accomplished -- but the cost is the appearance of the cityscape.

Our pretty place where we live, for their profit? That's not a very good bargain. I am 100% behind getting more people onto bikes, but there's got to be a way to do it that doesn't strew gaudy-colored contraptions all over.

[Mr. Pink]

I spend a lot of time in Baltimore, and wouldn't think of biking much in the downtown. Hunt Valley, yes, but, below that? Nope.

[mcteague]

I spend a lot of time in Baltimore, and wouldn't think of biking much in the downtown. Hunt Valley, yes, but, below that? Nope.

I live well North of the city and do a lot of riding in the Glen Arm area. Not as nice as Hunt Va but I don't have to drive to where I want to bike. Years ago I did a few rides down to the city and have no interest to do so again. I also work in the city but seldom leave the hospital campus. It is amazing the changes you see in just a few blocks.

Tim

[weiwentg]

I spend a lot of time in Baltimore, and wouldn't think of biking much in the downtown. Hunt Valley, yes, but, below that? Nope.

Twenty20 Cycles has a Wednesday night ride covering 20 miles, averaging 19 mph through that area. Those of you not from the area, it's hilly.

wife: "How was your ride, honey?"

me "It was painful. Yes, very painful."

PS: I won the uphill sprint twice on that one!!!

[OtayBW]

Twenty20 Cycles has a Wednesday night ride covering 20 miles, averaging 19 mph through that area. Those of you not from the area, it's hilly.

wife: "How was your ride, honey?"

me "It was painful. Yes, very painful."

PS: I won the uphill sprint twice on that one!!!
That's correct. The ride makes an immediate beeline out of town (North) and rides up to Hunt Valley and back into town. Fortunately, I live in Hunt Valley and so I just go out the door and and I'm into plenty of very good riding.

Baltimore definitely has some rough neighborhoods, but they're segmented. However, I have plenty of friends who live closer to town in peripheral neighborhoods that have seen higher crime rates in general encroaching over the last few years.

[weiwentg]

Twenty20 Cycles has a Wednesday night ride covering 20 miles, averaging 19 mph through that area. Those of you not from the area, it's hilly.

wife: "How was your ride, honey?"

me "It was painful. Yes, very painful."

PS: I won the uphill sprint twice on that one!!!

PPS: I would then proceed to devour everything in the house that was remotely edible and not in the trash.