Queen had it right

Bicycles! Bicycles!


This is way cool. I'm all for greener urban living. And this, well, this takes the cake.


On a math note: 175,000 bikes @ 1 RMB per bike per day = US$27,144.77. Um, city debt reduction plan #1, right here. That's if American cities charges riders the same as Hangzhou does - approximately 15 cents for the 2nd hour. Because, remember the first is free.


But of course, Americans would never charge that cheap. Let's say $1 per hour, with the typical bulk shopping mentality of "increasing number of hours at a discounted cost" that Americans love so much. And we're even scratching that "first hour free" thing. And let's decrease the amount of rental bikes to 50,000 in, say, San Francisco.


If all 50,000 bikes were used at least once per day, which wouldn't be a far reach in a place like SF, that would be an income of $1,500,000 per month for something that is relatively low maintenance (unlike, say, buses - and rental bikes in strategic locations would increase the use of buses anyway, hence another added layer of income). Yep, that's in the millions, baby. Hey politicians and voters, let's make this happen.


Although, oddly enough, the most astounding thing to me was that one dude who said "the people love the bikes and won't do anything to ruin them" or something to that effect. That's real ownership of a city. It's our city. It's our earth. We take care of it.


Hey parents and teachers, let's make THAT happen.