Community Bicycle Schemes: Saving Energy

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Saving Energy Costs With Community Bicycle Schemes by Markus Taylor

Some Green ideas are simply not old. The "White" Bicycle idea was first implemented in Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, in the early 1970's. The idea was to offer free use of bicycles in the City center, primarily to help the environment.

This old "Green" idea failed because too many "white" bicycles were being stolen, but proved a valuable point, to create an energy efficient society schemes like the "white" bicycle policy could be one answer. Almost 40 years later, the City of Amsterdam has a new "community" bicycle policy, but this time a deposit has to be paid to use a bicycle, whilst a series of drop off points are dotted around the city itself.

Many cities have already implemented some form of a "community" bicycle program; Stockholm, Helsinki, Washington DC, Barcelona even London. The schemes may differ from the original "White" Bicycle scheme in the 1970s, but are testament to the original ideas of this once unique scheme. Some people may still laugh at the idea of a shared bicycle scheme, but before our economy collapsed, net imports of oil for many nations were affordable, even at incredibly high prices.

Nowadays with Industrial China, India and other emerging countries, continuing to buy more cars then the USA and Europe, there soon will be more need for oil than in the pre-crash days of 2008. This could lead to a new energy crisis, with more players competing for decreasing resources. Car use would have to be minimised, whilst other forms of transport considered, hence the community bicycle idea that started in Amsterdam, an idea that could be implemented in any community whether it is implemented privately or through the local Government.

Many communities are already seeing changes, as people are forced by the recession to switch over to cheaper forms of transportation. This visible change, means that if poor public transportation services cannot make up for the gap in transportation services left by the current recession, communities may need to step in.

One way is a "community bicycle" policy, for short distances around town or city centers. A policy that may cut urban pollution, and domestic demand for dwindling oil supplies, while alternative mass produced non-petrol private transportation becomes the norm on our streets.

Old Green ideas can be reinvented to meet new realities, just as our old economy is not being saved, but changed forever towards a newer more sustainable future.

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