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Denver Rolls Out Bike Loaner Program For Employees

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Jan 14, 2009 4:58 pm US/Mountain

Denver Rolls Out Bike Loaner Program For Employees

Written by Paul Day
Reporting
Paul Day
DENVER (CBS4) ― Denver wants to encourage alternative transportation as well as a healthy lifestyle, and on Wednesday, the city rolled out a new bike-loaner program for municipal employees.

"This is a legitimate, practical, appropriate way of transitioning our commuters," Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper said.

City workers must sign up for the program. When they do, they receive a smart card which lets them unlock the bikes.

Thirty white cruisers are kept in a kiosk on the 14th Street side of the Webb Municipal Building.

"They weigh about 30 pounds," said Natv Kvamme, CEO of B-cycle.

The bikes are donated to the city by Humana Incorporated.

Kvamme says the two wheelers are user friendly 3-speeds with automatic transmissions. They come with a rack, a lock and an extra wide seat.

City workers are encouraged to use the cruisers for on-the-job errands or during lunch hour breaks to cruise around town.

Peddle power, of course, is pollution-free. It saves energy, reduces traffic congestion and provides healthy exercise.

Kvamme predicts hundreds of city workers will sign up and use the bikes in what is Step 1 of a 2-phase program. The second phase comes next summer when the city rolls out 500 loaner bikes for use by the general public.

"Denver will be one of the first cities nationwide to launch such a comprehensive, bike sharing program," claimed a news release from the Marketing Office of the City of Denver.

Funding for the city-wide bike sharing program came Wednesday in the form of a $1 million check presented by the Host Committee of the Democratic National Convention.
The DNC wants to build on the legacy of its own bike loaner program last summer which logged some 26,000 miles.

Donning a bike helmet and riding around a city block for news photographers, Hickenlooper said he hoped bike riding will become a daily ritual not only for city workers but for everyone else.

Asked how many miles he biked in 2008, Hickenlooper explained the duties of his job kept him from riding more.

"Did probably a couple hundred miles in the course of the year," said Hickenlooper.

But he's hoping to peddle a lot farther in 2009, "I'll triple it this year."

Additional Resources

Read more about the citywide bike-sharing program for the public mentioned in this story.

(© MMIX CBS Television Stations, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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