Bicycles Quotes
It was not very good and the Model A and Model T came after. The name was to distinguish it from the bicycle, then the most popular means of middle class transportation.
The bicycle rapidly became not only a major mode of American transportation but essentially was the catylist for the American tourist industry. This quotation illustrates the rapid change that tool –place with the popularity of this mode of transportation.
Bicycles were just beginning to be popular. It was a very successful social activity. This poster advertised a large indoor bicycle arena with room for 1500 guest observers. There was a band playing and refreshments were served. Patrons paid by the hour. In addition, they could buy bicycles there. Note the special appeal to females. Women were a potential market that most businesses overlooked, The early bicycles were very difficult for a woman in a long skirt to maneuver. So special bicycles were designed and advertised for sale here. Check out the illustration in the poster of the woman’s bike. That is how they solved the long skirt problem—make a small front wheel. The cost was about 50 cents per hour to rent a bike and ride. A new fancy woman’s bike was $150—a huge sum in those days—the equivalent of thousands of dollars in our money. $50 bought a low end bike. Definitely a luxury item. However, as more and more people manufactured bikes, the price dropped rapidly.
He created a Bicycle Squad and named it the “Scorcher Squad”. The squad not only overtook and arrested horse drawn carriages going to fast, but became heroes by riding up to runaway horses and slowing them down by grabbing the reins or jumping on the rig. Roosevelt used every incident to promote his modern innovation in policing.”
The reason that this quotation is noteworthy is because it is one of the rare examples of a government program that succeeded despite predictions of disaster when it was debated and initiated. In this case, as in most others, for several months of contention Mayor Bloomberg was advocating placing thousands of free bicycles throughout the city where anyone can use them. Opponents were many and the most dire prediction was that all these bicycles in city traffic pedaled by un-vetted users who may have no skills would produce a large increase in death and injury. This produced heavy media coverage. Virtually every successful government program had opponents who predicted dire consequences. When most or all do not come true, there is usually no media coverage. This was one of the exceptions.
New transportation technologies required new laws, criminal and civil.
