DC's bike sharing program is underway! You pay $40 a year for a Smartbike card, which will unlock one of these sweet rides. You can ride it around for 3 hours, and return it to any of the ten Smartbike stations around the city.
I'm not sure how much use I'll have for this program in its current form - usually I have my own bike, and even if I didn't, the three hour window is limiting. I couldn't fit in dinner and a movie in three hours. But I'm still incredibly excited to see these. It feels like a sign of an increasing enthusiasm -- in DC and elsewhere -- for changing the way we get around. I posted previously about the effect that high oil prices are having in the auto industry, where suddenly gas mileage and alternative fuels are all the rage, even in Detroit. Bike sharing programs, and bike-friendly city life in general, have become more popular recently for partly the same reasons. But apart from their earth-saving qualities, there is something about bicycles that make a city seem like a nicer place to live. I'm so glad that I'll be seeing these cheerful little critters around town.
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