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greenprint in the news
City going green - on two-wheelers
By: Daniel J. Chacon
The Rocky Mountain News
November 11, 2008
Denver rolling out bike loan program for its employees
The ground will be covered in white soon, but the city of Denver keeps getting greener by the day.
The city, which has taken various environmental measures, is about to roll out a bike loan program for employees as part of the Greenprint Denver climate action plan and also to expand alternative transportation options.
"It's an interesting time of year to launch a bike program," said Michele Weingarden, director of Greenprint Denver, the city's environmental initiative.
"We're just fortunate here in Denver to have so many nice days throughout the winter," she said.
Initially, 30 bikes will be available for employees to check out. All of them will be stationed outside the Wellington E. Webb Municipal Office Building downtown.
Two racks with 17 bikes were installed this week, but employees will have to wait to borrow the white cruisers until next month, which is the official launch of the program.
The rest of the bikes will be kept in the garage of the Webb Building.
"I think this is a fantastic program," said Denver City Attorney David Fine, who was walking past the bikes Thursday afternoon.
Fine, who rides his bike to work when he can, thinks the program will be successful, including during winter. He said there is a group of employees who call themselves the "Siberians" and ride even in raging snowstorms.
The city will make an additional 40 bikes available next spring at different city buildings.
Employees can use them whenever they want, including overnight and weekends.
"We're excited that this will give employees an opportunity to use alternative modes of transportation to get around to meetings, to go to lunch, to get home at the end of the day," Weingarden said.
"It's going to allow the city to provide employees healthy, sustainable transit options during the workday and, as a special treat, being able to use them on the weekends, too," she said.
Employees will receive a card to insert into a kiosk that will then release a bike locked in the rack. A code will track who has a bike out.
"When you take it out, there will be a tracking mechanism - not where you're going - but how long it's gone," Weingarden said.
Policies are still being finalized, but employees will probably be able to check out the bikes for up to 24 hours, she said.
Health care giant Humana, which sponsored a program that made 1,000 bikes available during the Democratic National Convention in August, donated the bikes, Weingarden said.
"They gifted the city as a legacy project," she said.
Article URL:
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/nov/21/
city-going-green---on-two-wheelers/
