[Thrownatbirth]

The SmartBike program (a well-publicized urban bike rental scheme) seems to be a major FAIL in Washington DC. At work, I've been watching the same 20 bikes across the street rust away for months. This ain't Amsterdam.

[wheresmyusa]

I know this has been posted before but some may have missed it.

Behold, the vision for our future. (By insane commie libs)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7rCAYkoMT0

[tanknetter]

The SmartBike program (a well-publicized urban bike rental scheme) seems to be a major FAIL in Washington DC.

IMHO the problem isn't with the concept, it's with the execution. If they were to ditch those stupid little bikes and replace them with something that looks, well, respectable (maybe a mix of generic mountain, hybrid and street cycles), they'd get a lot more customers.

I work in downtown DC, and am part of a group of coworkers who go down and walk around the Mall a couple/few times a week during lunch. Just about every time we pass the SmartBike rack near our office we discuss how we should probably just break down and rent the things, since it would allow us to cover more ground faster (we could actually go and spend time at the Smithsonian). But then someone always says "You know what all of us peddling down Penn Ave on those things is going to look like?" and we decide that walking is still the way to go.