"Ich fahre nicht mit dem Rad, um meinen ökologischen Fußabdruck zu verkleinern - ich fahre, weil es Spaß macht", schreibt David Byrne, der Frontman der Pop-Gruppe Talking Heads (und Autor des Buches Bicycle Diaries) in seinem Kommentar  für die Sonntagsausgabe der New York-Times. Mit Mobilität Spaß zu haben und dabei örtliche, soziale und ökonomische Barrieren zu überwinden, darauf zielt das neue Bike Sharing-Konzept, das diesen Sommer in New York City eingeführt wird. Und Byrne ist voll des Lobs dafür:

"THIS summer the city’s Department of Transportation inaugurates a new bike-share program. People who live and work in New York will be able to travel quickly and cheaply between many neighborhoods. This is major. It will make New Yorkers rethink their city and rewrite the mental maps we use to decide what is convenient, what is possible. Parks, restaurants and friends who once seemed beyond plausible commuting distance on public transportation will seem a lot closer. The possibilities aren’t limitless, but the change will be pretty impressive."

Wie immer, wenn sie eine Sache gut finden, packen die US-Amerikaner  mit voller Kraft an. Da gibt es keine halben Sachen. So lobt der britische Musiker dann auch die Dimension des Projekts, gegen das bestehende Systeme in vielen anderen Städten alt aussehen.

"The program will start with 420 stations spread through the lower half of Manhattan, Long Island City and much of western Brooklyn; eventually more than 10,000 bikes will be available. It will cost just under $10 for a day’s rental. The charge includes unlimited rides during a 24-hour period, as long as each ride is under 30 minutes. So, for example, I could ride from Chelsea to the Lower East Side, from there to food shopping, later to the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and after that, home. This system is not geared for leisurely rides up to the George Washington Bridge or to Coney Island. This is for getting around."

Zum Vergleich: In Wien standen im Jahr 2011 laut Webpage 1.200 Citybikes an 92 Stationen zu Verfügung, und das System wird ständig erweitert. Zurück zu Byrne: Der streicht in seinem Artikel nämlich auch den Zusammenhang von Fahrradnutzung und Arbeitsmarkt hervor und erinnert an die Tatsache, dass viele lateinamerikanische Städte ihre Straßen an Sonntagen für den motorisierten Verkehr sperren. (Genau das gehört meiner Meinung nach übrigens auch in Wien an Sonntagen mit der Ringstraße gemacht .)  Byrne:

Radwege bringen Arbeitsplätze

"I just completed a Latin American tour, not a music tour, but a series of discussions about bikes and transport; there it seems every city has its own bike-share program, many with peculiar local traits. Bogotá, Colombia, for example, has ciclovías, when the main streets are closed to all traffic except cyclists on weekends. Though Gabriel García Márquez reportedly had to lobby his community for approval for a bike path that was to go through his neighborhood in Bogotá, today those citizens are completely sold on biking as a way of getting around; Bogotá bike use has increased by a factor of five. Significantly, the increased biking has affected the city’s economy, as Bogotá recently extended a network of bicycle paths through lower-income neighborhoods around the city’s periphery, making it easier and more affordable for those who don’t live in affluent areas to get to work. Bike paths = jobs."

Byrne, neben Mikael Colville-Andersen, einer DER wichtigsten Botschafter für das Radfahren  kommt zu einem optimistischen Schluss. Man kann nur hoffen, dass es so weiter geht:

"Look around you. Bikes are everywhere: in glamorous ads and fashionable neighborhoods, parked outside art galleries, clubs, office buildings. More and more city workers arrive for work on bikes. The future is visible in the increasing number of bikes you see all over the urban landscape. This simple form of transportation is about to make our city more livable, more human and better connected; New Yorkers are going to love the bike-share program; culturally and physically, our city is perfectly suited for it."