Arthur Lamy wonders what happened to the Green Bike Scheme?

Reading about Glasgow’s White Bike Plan, I was reminded about our own Green Bike scheme here in Jersey.

In principle, this was quite a good idea and in some ways ahead of its time. From memory – and it must have been in the late 1980s – the States got Oakfield Enterprises to renovate a number of bikes and paint them green.

These were then left at strategic locations around the Town. People were free to use them as they required, just leaving them somewhere where the next user would find them easily.

The scheme was based very loosely on a Dutch scheme that was established by Luud Schimmelpenninck, with the radical anachist group Provo, in Amsterdam in the 1960s. This scheme got great publicity, although Schimmelpenninck said later that there were no more than ten bikes actually out there.

I forget quite how many bikes went out in Jersey, but I’m sure it was in excess of 50. Where they went no one knows, a good amount were vandalised of course and it was common knowledge that quite a few ended up in peoples’ garages. I certainly remember a fall-off in the demand for new and secondhand bikes around that period!

With Transport and Technical Services looking at a sustainable transport policy would it be a good idea to bring back green bikes in Jersey?

Braking News

• The Association of Cycle Traders reports a busy April for most cycle dealers around the country. This is very welcome as January’s snow had meant a slow start to the year.

• I think that bike theft is not such a big problem here as it is in London or Oxford – though of course you might disagree. – but to keep on the safe side take a look at this clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPDHPpnXPv8

• Shimano has just announced that it’s to globally sponsor Ironman and Ironman 70.3 Series during 2010.

• The Canary Wharf Corporate Gran Prix – this could be the format of a great event for us in Jersey. Billed as the curtain raiser for the Halford’s Tour Series cycle race, this sees teams of bankers race a six lap relay around the Tour Series course. Each team is underpinned by a pro rider who will be riding the Halfords Tour Series that evening.

• I see that a free bike borrowing scheme has floundered in Glasgow. The White Bike Plan, part of the Glasgow International Art Festival, saw 50 brand new bikes left around the city. It was very much on the lines of the white Dutch Provo bikes of the 1960s. To liberate one, you just had to log on to find the number of the 50 identical combination locks securing them.  As you’d expect all 50 have been liberated, and as yet 30 have not reappeared.

• The 2009 Mayor of London’s Skyride, one of a number of closed road events for leisure cyclists, has won the Sport’s Participation Event of the Year at the European Sport Industry Awards. The 2009 Skyride had over 60,000 cyclists taking part, which dwarfed even the venerable Cape Argus Pick and Pay Cycle Ride in South Africa that generally tops the ratings with around 40,000 riders.

See the Mayor of London’s Skyride on: http://www.youtube.com/

• Here’s a message from Loveland, Colorado that our pro helmet legislators might like to consider. Last week, Loveland Fire Marshal Scott Pringle and Crime Prevention Officer Dave Sloat were giving out free helmets to anyone who cycled by without one, or who had a helmet that was damaged. Kids who were wearing a helmet got vouchers for drinks at the 7-Eleven store.

In what is hoped to become an annual event, local fire department and police officers spent two hours giving out helmets, vouchers and advice on helmet fitting.

• The Edinburgh Cycle Challenge started last Monday and runs until the 30th. May. The idea behind it is to try and encourage as many of your work colleagues to do 10 minutes cycling sometime during the three week period. Those people who succeed in getting a friend to cycle will get a pair of cinema tickets. There are further prizes for team participation and spot prizes.

• Mayor Boris, the London cyclists’ guardian angel, has announced that he intends to spend a further £116M on making the capital a safer, and more cycle friendly place during the next twelve months. So far, in Mayor Boris’ tenure, cycling has increased 14%, and with the introduction of London’s Cycle Hire fleet at the end of July, and the first of the Cycling Super Highways opening in the same month, it looks like cycling in the capital can only gain in popularity. See his plans: Click here

• News just in: You’ll be pleased, or maybe disappointed, to hear that the Etape Caledonia that took place today, Sunday 16th May,  had no incidences of carpet tacks on the road, nor indeed any other acts of sabotage. A record-breaking 5,000 riders rode the 81 mile course.

And Finally,

For the bicycle aficionado who has everything, and I imagine there are a few around, how about some Matthew Meadows wallpaper?  Go to: http://www.matthewmeadows.net/page4.htm

Arthur Lamy is a freelance tourist guide and writer. www.cycleinjersey.com