One intrinsic key to a sustainable city is finding environmentally friendly modes of transportation.  Planes, trains and buses work, certainly, but also leave a massive carbon footprint on our environment.  Bicycles, on the other hand, are an underutilized mode that are gaining momentum, especially in younger generations.  In San Francisco, Boston and other metropolitan cities across the world, Bike Share stations (http://www.bikeshare.com) are cropping up for commuters, locals and tourists to use.  People can get an annual membership, or a shorter 3-day or 24-hour membership, depending on their needs.  This will 'unlock' a bike to use.  The bikes can then be returned to any station, making them an even more effective choice:  Maybe you want to ride the bus to work because it's raining, or you have a suit and tie on, but after work can enjoy a leisurely ride home.  The more this bicycle transportation is accepted and used, the more new stations -- even easier to pick up and return -- there will be.  The bicycle lanes we see here in Oakland make riding safer and easier, s o people will be more inclined to try them out.  Bicycles require minimal upkeep, are generally easier to park than a car, and emit no harmful gasses into the environment.  Best, the rider also gets the added health benefits of exercise, so bicycles are both an environmentally and healthy option for the future of a sustainable city.

I agree! This is one of the ideas I had as well for maintaining a more sustainable city. To add to your point, lately I have been hearing a lot about changing the parking layout on streets to create an open and safe bike lane, further promoting and encouraging people to start biking to work. I drive on Oakland streets with bike lanes like Grand Avenue every day, but I often notice that there is not a designated bike lane and bikes have to share with cars, trucks, and other vehicles. This can be dangerous for bikers and drivers. However, with the opportunity to create designated bike lanes, we will have a safer and more environmentally friendly city. According to bikeeastbay.org, the plan is to create protected bike lanes by having the bike lane between parked cars and the sidewalk In addition, bikeeastbay.org and other programs around the Bay Area are already working towards implementing more of these protected bike lanes in Oakland, including streets like Telegraph Ave. I think the combination of these bike lanes and your idea of bike stations would really improve quali ty of life in Oakland or any other city as well as enhance our journey towards an environmentally friendly and sustainable world.

Christopher I think you make a really good point that even though our public transportation is better than having millions of cars on the road, it still is not a perfect solution. I think your idea of bike riding is a brilliant idea to helping reduce a cities carbon footprint. If we made bikes more accessible and affordable and safer bike lanes we could really reshape major cosmopolitan cities. This would also help with obesities rates in our country allowing people easy access to exercise as well as transportation.