David Byrne on NYC’s New Bike-Share Program
Travel Blog • Jim Benning • 05.29.12 | 11:02 PM ET
iStockPhotoThe former Talking Heads frontman and cycling enthusiast is pretty excited about New York City’s new bike-share program, which launches this summer and will lead to more than 10,000 additional bicycles on city streets.
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.
How serious is Byrne about cycling and cities these days? He mentions that he just got back from a Latin American tour—“not a music tour, but a series of discussions about bikes and transport.”
If you haven’t read it, his unconventional travel memoir, Bicycle Diaries