So, riders will be charged if they have the bike for longer than 30 minutes? How is that supposed to be help someone that wants to bike to work?

Government stupidity at its finest!

"So, riders will be charged if they have the bike for longer than 30 minutes? How is that supposed to be help someone that wants to bike to work?"

I'll try and field this very difficult question:

Giving someone a free pass for the first 30 minutes helps people who could do a short local commute of less than 30 minutes, OR it offers the first 30 minutes as free if someone wants to do a longer commute. That's where the help comes in.
Oh, wait, that wasn't difficult to figure out at all. Hmm.

You don't get it. The bike needs to be RETURNED within 30 minutes or the rider will be charged! So unless someone has a 5 minute ride to work and a 20 minute work shift, this "free bike ride" is of absolutely no use to anyone!

Oh, here's the issue causing you such grief, you don't understand how the program works. Let me explain it. The bike can be returned to ANY bike share rack. That means if you ride to your destination, rack the bike and your commute is free. Come back to the rack, ride it home, again, free.
I've done this on my MV to PA commute and it works great, though not free like it will be on BTWD.

Maybe if you took the time to learn about what you think makes you mad instead of liking your own post you could find some mental relief. Good luck with that.

Congratulations. You are in the .1% of the population who both live and work near one of the small number of bike racks. I'm glad we taxpayers are spending millions so that you don't have to ride your own bike to work.

See, you weren't mad at the free offering, you were just using that as an entry point so you can hate on the program...and you did it! Congrats to you as well.

Helpful Hint: Going fwd, you can always start your own link to hate on the program. You don't need to sneak in under the guise of another issue in order to rant about your pet peeve.

Enjoy the work week!

isn't bay area bike share a commercial operation? Or did they go out of business already?

A free 30 minutes on a share bike could be fun just for fun's sake, like a Google bike. For commuting, if I didn't have my own or if it was laid up w/ a mechanical issue, I would totally take a shared bike. Anything but a car on BTWD! Stress is bad.

The problem with bike share in Mountain View (and Palo Alto) is that there are few bike share stations in residential neighborhoods. If the bike share system were useful, people would be able to walk a few minutes from home to the bike share station, then bike 10 or 20 minutes to work, and drop the bike off at a station near their office. The bike share systems in Mountain View (and Palo Alto) are perhaps designed for out-of-town commuters who take Caltrain into town, pick up a bike at the train station, then bike to work. Unfortunately, there are no bike share stations at major employers (like Google or HP or Stanford), so the usefulness of the current system is very limited. Even more unfortunately, there appear to be no plans to expand the system in Mountain View or Palo Alto.

San Francisco and San Jose are getting more stations, which is great for residents of those cities, but not for us.

Just take a Google bike they are all over the city problem solved just do it.

Every now and then I see a Gbike downtown, but NEVER when I actually need one...not that you're really supposed to take one, but now and again a single unit appears just at the right time and then that rocks. Share bike, Gbike, eBike, my bike, your bike, his bike, her bike...all good, just enjoy the day and the noticeably happy attitude the ride gives you

Bike to Work Day has come and gone and nobody took advantage of this stupid promotion. 30 minutes free bike ride! Woo hoo!

Actually BTWD is May 12th, but aside form that, how much free time do you feel entitled to?
Do you feel entitled to other free handouts?
If someone gave you a free dollar bill, would you say that's stupid because you feel entitled to more than just a dollar handout?
The word you used was "stupid".

Ooooooh! Snap! Hahaha

I see online in one of the Voice's sister papers that the Menlo Park City Council rejected a proposal for bike lanes on El Camino Real. Bikes and motorized vehicles do not get along well. But there is still a plan for a new El Camino Real that will eliminate cars and trucks - making room only for buses with stations in the middle of the road. It is the GRAND BOULEVARD INITIATIVE. Look it up. The plan is intentionally vague but insiders know the aim. Bikes and the like will eventually inherit El Camino.

Quit hijacking threads for your own personal pet issue. Start a new topic if you want to talk about the GBI.

Another bike to work day come and gone. I wonder how many people participated in this stupid "30 minutes of free bike time" promotion? Probably none.

Hahaha. EPIC troll baiting there. My gosh what a ray of sunshine, haha :)

Actually quite a few at our school participated. I realized it when I saw all the moms in the parking lot that morning loading bikes in their cars. When I asked what they were doing they said their kids rode to school and they followed (in their minivans and SUVs) wth the kids backpacks that there's no way in hell they can carry on their bikes.

So now we have kids on bikes screwing up traffic with their moms following carrying their backpacks/lunches.

Brilliant idea don't ya think?

That was fun, thanks to all who helped out at the event. I decided I'm going to do it again this Thursday!

2 years ago it was bike to work day that helped me prove to myself that I could do this much more than just once a year. Now I'm a regular bike commuter. One less car to clog the roads.