Jun 13, 2008

Blaze a trail for bicycling

Editorial

Palo Alto has a chance to burnish its street cred as a bicycle-friendly town by pursuing a modest bike-sharing program and angling to keep the city on the Tour of California itinerary.

There's no reason why a forward-looking city like Palo Alto shouldn't stay in the bicycling vanguard. Pedal power is healthy, is good for our air and may only grow in popularity given the long-term outlook for fuel costs.

City officials recently heard a pitch on bike-sharing programs from Bill Burton, who launched a bike library system in Arcata. There, participants can pay a $20 refundable deposit and borrow a bicycle from the bike library downtown for up to six months.

It's a fairly low-cost, low-maintenance effort in the growing bike-sharing movement, which is a good reason to pursue something like it here. If Arcata can do it, why can't Palo Alto? It's at least worth a pilot project. Bike sharing is found in a number of European cities and recently began in Washington, D.C. Burton is also planning to start a bike library program in the city of Portland, Ore.

Meanwhile city officials are also expected to begin talks to make sure top riders in the sport of bicycling hit Palo Alto's pavement during the 2009 Tour of California. The city hosted the prologue this year and wants to land a final stage of one of the legs in the race next time. If top teams are going to be tearing through the state, there's no sense in letting them bypass a city so committed to accommodating bicyclists.

Offering bike sharing and bringing the tour are just two ways Palo Alto can build on its reputation as a bicycle-friendly town. If, as we hope, bicycling grows in popularity, the city can seize on these and other opportunities to lead the pack.