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Tricycle? Tricycles? What, pray tell, is the problem that tricycles solve, Arlington County? Two wheels on a bike aren't redundant enough? Can't feel the wind in your hair on a Segway? Bethesda nab all the pogo sticks? I'd like to tell you that no one is judging you. You county employees who have registered in this trike share program are cutting down on emissions and proving that the suburbs can develop sufficiently dense commercial/residential corridors where you don't need a car to survive. But I would ultimately be lying to you. If you are an adult riding a tricycle, it is the privilege -- no, the obligation -- of every one of your fellow human beings to point and snicker. Snidely, and with abandon. I urge you to save the planet and your dignity. Barring that, please promise that you will never, ever attempt to ride a tricycle in the District. The kids here greet adults riding bicycles by throwing rocks at them. There is no telling what they would do to a grownup on a trike.
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i guess in the way that many drivers look at bikes as kids toys, you're looking at trikes as kids toys.
i dont really see a problem with trikes. besides, at least theres storage capacity, unlike our bikeshare option in the district.
i agree with the above comment, nothin' wrong with rockin' a trike on the mean streets of any urban area--the urbaner, the better, in my view. one of my fave artists in Boston was a Jamaican woman who rode all over Creation on a giant, rusted, ancient trike festooned with Tibetan flags, stickers, bells and pinwheels.
The problem here is the HELMETS.
Look at it again, Kriston, and see what you think.
What I wanna see is a MAN-SIZED BIG WHEEL.
Ask, and you shall receive.
http://www.loupiote.com/burningman/photos/1358844607.shtml
Oh yeah!
Pedicabs are tricycles. Just saying.
Maybe Arlington is full of adult babies?
(Don't ask what I'm doing with my pogo stick.)
Oh yeah? And maybe Bethesda is full of restaurants! :)
So since it's not ubercool like bicycles we have to mock it?
Seems like our green truly is skin deep.
got no beef with the trike, the orange flag off the back maybe. Storage, stability, and opening up another mode of transport for folks that might be a little intimidated about getting back on a normal bike. i'd certainly rather see trikes out than segways...or pogos.
Are you guys off your rocker? I'm with Kriston. This is like something my mom would think of, because she saw one of those assertive trikers with the red flag and think 'oh what a cool idea!'
The real question is in these tough economic times, why are we overspending on a costly tricycle program? I demand we go to a single-wheeled unicycle sharing program to get our public employees where they need to go. Plus with less parts to manufacturer, the assembly process is much more friendly to mother earth, so everybody wins. Especially the visitors to Arlington who can point and laugh their heads off, and justifiably so.
Ok, serious question though, why can't they use regular two wheeled bicycles? They're faster, can also be outfitted with a basket for storage, and they have the added bonus that they are not excrutiating uncool. I've never understood the purpose of these tricycles for anything other then pedicaps or other transportation-designed purposes where they have to carry a lot of extra weight.
Leave it to arlington to find the most ridiculous use of taxpayer money.
From installing speed bumps on every single road in the county to putting ridiculous gourmet kitchens (stainless steel, granite, subzero, etc) in county offices..... Arlington county never ceases to amaze me in the way they waste money.
Oh and almost forgot, two of the best schools in the nation, apparently both need $100 million makeovers. what?
Arlington=Socialism gone awry.
Arlington thinks of a creative and inexpensive way to cut pollution and promote the health of its workers, and you feel like mocking the extra wheel? Big thumbs-down to DCist on this one.
Trikes are more stable and can haul stuff better than a bike, but they are also heavier, slower and require more effort to pedal.
The flag on the back is probably because the trike/rider combination sits lower than a bike/rider combination. You also see flags on a lot of recumbants.
I guess they chose to buy the trikes because enough potential sharers felt uncomfortable on bikes, which the WP story makes pretty clear they also offer.
It's appalling the county would spend money on a program like this when they're shuttering libraries and nature centers... in favor of frickin tricycles?
Another local govt in the dc area that would greatly benefit from cleaning house... or at least one elected member of the opposition party.
They should cut funding for this program by two-thirds and give everyone unicycles instead. That'll learn 'em!
On Sunday I spotted a DC cop riding down the sidewalk on an electric stand-up trike, about the size and configuration of a Segway. Apparently someone finally figured out that by adding a third wheel, you can achieve the same functionality as a Segway at a fraction of the cost and douchiness.
Amusingly, my mom called me up yesterday to tell me about this great scoop she read in the Cleveland paper that I should write about. Aaaaand it was tricycling (sp?) Arlingtonians.
I don't know if I ought to be more offended by your patronizing attitude toward Arlingtons great advances or your deeply troubling characterization of DC as thuggish and brutal. If you are getting rocks thrown at you in this day and age you are probably inspiring it. I bike all over every day and I haven't had a rock thrown at me in over ten years. This attitude is all the more worrying when it comes from a white southerner commenting on the behaviour of "kids". I think we can assume you are not thinking of the tow headed scions of Georgetown. You are new here and should not be insulting your neighbors in the neighborhood or our neighbors across the river.
What is it that you find so aesthetically troubling about tricycles? I find that when people ride trikes here in dc the only response is one of excitement and wonder. Perhaps you think it looks silly, but your haircut inspires opinions as well. I am just polite enough to keep them to myself.