Saturday, March 08, 2008

They do not learn...

Pardon me while I rant for a moment....

Apparently, they do not learn and they do not read. If you're unaware of making mistakes because you don't read the feedback, how on earth can anyone expect you to correct these errors?


I found this on Streetsblog:

Bike-Share Update: DC First Out of the Gate

On Wednesday Streetsblog declared Portland the leader in the race to launch a public bike-share program here in America. But as DC bike blogger Chris Loos pointed out, a bike-share system in Washington is actually imminent.

Isn't that nice? Those cities on either side of the country, you know, out near the coasts, are having a 'race' to launch a public bike program here in America. Lovely.

The 'race' link takes you to this:

Bike-share programs are a very hot topic at the Bike Summit. Everyone is aware of how Velib has led to a huge spike in bike ridership in Paris, and they're wondering which U.S. city will be the first to replicate that success. Based on the Q&A session at one panel, "Bicycling in Great American Cities," it seems like Portland is the best bet to get something up and running first.

And below that, you find this comment by ER:

Sorry, Portland and NYC- Tusla, OK won the US bike-share arms race already. Check it out:
http://www.tulsa-townies.com.

Yes, I know that the Midwest is 'flyover' country as far as some on the coasts are concerned, but it's annoying to encounter this story time and time again as some bicycling advocacy group touts it's own city as the first in the nation to adopt this program. It's been in operation here since last spring. The system encountered a few bugs that have been remedied, and it's widely regarded as a successful program. So successful, in fact, that it's planning to expand.

YET STREETSBLOG COULDN'T BE BOTHERED TO DO SOME BASIC RESEARCH FIRST. NOR COULD THEY BOTHER TO READ AND FOLLOW UP ON THE COMMENTS CORRECTING THEIR MISTAKE. IT'S NOT TERRIBLY DIFFICULT. ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS CLICK ON THE LINK PROVIDED.

Yes, it bothers me greatly. We have a good system here. It works. And since Tulsa isn't known as a trendy cycling town, that popular bike share program is relegated to obscurity. It has to make me wonder, if Streetsblog, the Bike Summit, and others are completely unaware of events happening here in the middle of the country, how many other bicycling-related programs escape their attention because they're in 'fly-over' country?

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3 Comments:

Blogger Jennifer said...

Bike Summit for the Rest of Us?

(Sorry if this double-posted; Safari did something weird.)

4:02 PM  
Blogger Ed W said...

Thank you, Jennifer. That's a wonderful idea!

6:28 PM  
Blogger Yokota Fritz said...

I've mentioned the Tulsa program once or twice. I thought about mentioning it again when I saw the Streetsblog article but didn't get around to it yet. Fort Collins, CO also has a well used bike share program.

10:37 AM  

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