Louisville, Kentucky’s TARC (Transit Authority of River City) has put together a hip-hop video to promote their on-bus bike racks. The video demonstrates the simplicity of loading a bike onto a bus, and encourages the use of multi-modal transportation.
TARC spokesperson Nina Walfoort wrote the video’s lyrics and TARC employees are in the limelight. The male rapper is mechanic Theo Hamilton and the "TARCettes" are TARC bus drivers. Since the mass transit agency doesn’t have the budget to pay for television ad spots, the video currently is only viewable online.
According to Jonathan Villines, Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinator for Louisville, when the bike racks were initially installed on the city’s buses in 2002, 47.000 people used them. In 2007, over 107,000 people used the racks, an increase Villines says is "an incredible number for a city this size." With promotions similar to this video, the numbers are bound to continue climbing.
It will take a multi-pronged approach to most effectively decrease car usage. Bike-sharing, car-sharing, improved mass transit systems, the new-fangled bike racks BART is installing in their Bay Area, CA stations, and political actions like those underway in Bogotá, London, and Los Angeles will all play a role.
There’s no one magical solution – efforts like this initiative by TARC improve the practicalilty of both cycling and riding the bus in Louisville.
Thanks to Debra Richards for the info.
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That’s a portuguese video, about the paralimpics 2008. The voice-off is saying: «Thanks for the obstacles, for the barriers, and for the difficulties. We’re in good shape for Beijing. Thanks.”
Portugal is very close to Greece on the way pedestrians and non-cars are treated…
Thanks for the comment & translation anabananasplit – I amended the description.
You think Athens is bad you should see it up close! I was there a while ago and this was the constant scene from my hotel window:
I was situated above a crossroad, cars were parallel parked down every curb right up to and around the corners. It must have been a common route for passenger buses, as once or twice an hour a bus would come to the intersection and want to turn left. The problem was that the intersection was crowded with cars and so the turning circle was obstructed.
No problem.
The bus driver would toot his horn and wait. After a minute the car’s owners would file out of the offices and move the cars in the intersection, allow the bus to turn, then park right back where they were and return to work.
This happened several times an hour all day.