Friday, November 19, 2004

High miles for Ketchum cruisers


By MEGAN THOMAS
Express Staff Writer

The results are in. Ketchum riders did their part to cruise through the summer and into fall. The Ketchum Cruiser Adopt-A-Bike program recently came to a close for the winter with impressive participation. After the program ended the Wood River Rideshare tallied the number of miles by those riding adopted cruiser bikes and announced the bicyclists rode 764 miles around town.

"We're pleased with the results and with knowing the bikes are making a real difference in the community by reducing vehicle trips, pollution and parking shortages," Beth Callister, executive director of Wood River Rideshare, said.

The City of Ketchum introduced the Ketchum Cruiser program in 1997 to help increase public awareness of vehicle trip reduction and to increase the use of bicycles as a viable transportation mode. The original bikes were painted green and distributed throughout the Ketchum downtown core for public use. Since that time Wood River Rideshare partnered with the city and added a business bicycle adoption component in 2003.

This year 15 bicycles were adopted through the program. The mileage readings recorded by computers on each bicycle tallied the miles pedaled each day. Unfortunately, mileage from two of the participating businesses did not record due to a malfunction of the computers.

Of the businesses that participated, two of the adopting businesses rode nearly 200 miles each. Smith Sport Optics led the efforts with 196 miles. Formula Sports followed in second place with 181 miles.

Wood River Rideshare plans to continue the program next year. If enough funds are raised the organization would like to expand the program.

Changes are proposed for upcoming year. Next year, the program will provide cruisers in order to help businesses decide whether or not to purchase a bike for their business. Any business that purchases their own bike can be supplied with a sign and a bike computer for tracking mileage.

"We usually have more requests for bikes than we have bikes available. We would like to encourage businesses that have previously adopted a bike and experienced its benefits to take the next step and purchase a bike for their workplace. That will allow us to provide bikes to more businesses and ultimately reduce more vehicle trips around town," Callister said.




 Local Weather 
Search archives:


Copyright © 2024 Express Publishing Inc.   Terms of Use   Privacy Policy
All Rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of Express Publishing Inc. is prohibited. 

The Idaho Mountain Express is distributed free to residents and guests throughout the Sun Valley, Idaho resort area community. Subscribers to the Idaho Mountain Express will read these stories and others in this week's issue.