(Want to celebrate Bike Week but can't make an event? You can help out Bikeside with their L.A. Bike Survey or Bike Nation Long Beach as outlined below. - DN)
After the announcement in August of last year that Bike Nation will create one of its largest bike-sharing programs ever--250 kiosks throughout the city--all was quiet on the share-a-bike front. Claiming a kiosk would appear downtown in February ultimately resulted in... a display of what the bike actually looks like.
New word has finally broke out and Bike Nation is encouraging Long Beachers to suggest where they should place those 250 kiosks, a move that is honestly cool and rather exciting (even though, as a fixie dude, a bit turned off by the bulky, GPS-equipped bicycle contraptions they've conjured up). Of course, a similar web-app appeared for Bike Nation's Los Angeles system last August. Thus far, there are no Bike Nation bike or kiosks on the ground in the City of Angeles.
But there is a small system in Anaheim, and that's reason to hope that the nation's only completely privately funded bike share company is slowly readying for a larger roll out.
But back to the app.
The web-app--which after a little over a week of activation has some 11 nominations, with the vast majority being located in the downtown area--allows people to register for free and make their suggestions within the boundaries of the city. And note: make sure you register for the "Suggest a Station," not the overall Bike Nation registration which will have you sign up for a membership that will throw either $75/year or $35/mo on your card.
Thus far, after a couple weeks in action, 12 suggestions have been placed, with the vast majority--8--all being located downtown. My hope is that the more affluent areas don't get overridden and bourgeoning neighborhoods like North Long Beach and the west side see a flurry of activity.
This is a big deal--and not just on an environmental and design level, where we are slowly-but-surely preparing ourselves for future urbanism. There is also a deeply philosophical level to it. This type of program can interconnect a wide array of Long Beach citizens, outside of location or economic level for the most part, in a way that has never been done before.
So go make a suggestion.
Instructions are easy:
1) Register here with your user name. Note: Passwords require both a symbol (e.g !, @, #) and a number.
2) After registering, login here.
3) Once the map loads, zoom in towards the location you desire, click on it, leave your comment, and voila.
4) Take a gander at other locations, using a Facebook-like "dislike" or "like" suggestion that will tally up votes. You can also start a conversation.
