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What Car Sharing Makes You Consider

Tuesday, January 4th, 2011

Austin is a pilot city for Daimler AG’s Car2Go car sharing program. They basically dropped a fleet of 200 Smart ForTwo cars on the city with a very smart reservation system powering the whole operation. I won’t go into details, but you can with help from this great little article by Kate X Messer.

Having recently sold a vehicle, I saw this Smart invasion as an opportunity to become a one car family again. My biking to work works on most days, the commute is only five miles one way. But what of early morning meetings where you need to show up dressed in more than lycra? The Car2Go program held out the promise of closing this gap. The buses in Austin simply don’t cut it. So this was my personal intermodal opportunity to seize. I signed up.

Now Car2Go isn’t cheap to use. But you have to hold it up against the real monthly cost of owning a vehicle. which is more than you think when you consider – your payment, annual registration, inspection, insurance, gas, maintenance, and time spent overseeing maintenance. This says nothing of environmental costs which vary depending on what you drive or how you get around. So when you do some accounting, the cost per minute model that Car2Go uses is put in it’s proper context.

And that’s really what this method of transport forces us to do – consider. Consider where we are going, when and why. Consider each trip. Consider the costs. I love this side effect. The forced consciousness. Riding a bike is much easier by comparison. But we do have to reconsider the whole matrix of how we get around and we all know it. So what are we willing to do as individuals, companies, and municipalities to drive efficiency up and environmental costs down? How grand will our vision be? The ideas can come from anywhere, and they need to.

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Creative peloton.

Wednesday, May 26th, 2010

Several years ago now Andrew Yates of Beef and Pie Productions asked if the Butler Bros would like to become a sponsor of their nascent cycling team. Filled with mountain bike masters, a few good roadies, and people who take having a good time seriously we knew it would be a great fit. Mike and Andrew (Beef and Pie) are old friends. We met Mike at GSD&M in the mid nineties when he was a copywriter and Andrew around the same time when he was a still shooter (he still is). Today they run a great production company that’s focused on both commercial work and documentary film. The rest of team Beef and Pie is stocked with designers, ad folks, a judge, lawyers, a scientist and entertainment types. It’s all very Austin and all very fun. We hope to see you in lycra soon.

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Bogusky B-Cycle’s to B-Bros.

Monday, February 23rd, 2009

Alex Bogusky is an ad man of some renown. That’s all well and good if you’ve got a product to sell. But he’s up to something more than interrupting and selling gypsy wares. He’s also interrupting and attempting to shift a behavior that has an enormously negative impact on the planet – driving. He isn’t doing it with a Truth style campaign though. He, along with Humana and Trek bicycles, are doing it with B-Cycle. It’s an uber dialed bike sharing plan. He is coming to Austin on 13 March to share the vision with SXSW interactive conference attendees.

We are gathering a group of Austinites that can help him see this vision to fruition. As a bike friendly office with two full time bike commuters rolling in and out each day we’d love to see it go. If you want Austin on the B-Cycle map get off your Facebook and get over here. If you have any great ideas for how to drive grassroots awareness of this mission drop us a comment, tweet it, or just launch it into the universe in your own special way.

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bike+austin

Tuesday, August 19th, 2008

What do you get when you cross a bicycle geek with a girl who loves sundresses?

A cute commute.

Inspired by the genius of Copenhagen Cycling Chic and bikeportland.org, along a bit of a Texas twist, you get The Cute Commute Calendar. Afterall, who can go wrong with a calendar full of cute chicks on bikes? Especially ones that could drop you on a hill and look good doing it.

The calendar features a variety of cute local Austin bicyclist chicks who ride for transportation, racing, and recreation. Photogaphy is courtesy of local professional photographers including previous Butler Bros intern JB Sauceda. Currently in production, the calendar itself will be designed by the Bros, showcasing six Austin photographers, and 15 of Austin’s own cute bicycling gals.

What started as a suggestion from AB, “Hey, how about a project with something related to bicycles. You like bicycles”, has exploded into collaboration of many individuals associated with the cycling community. I am continually amazed and excited by the enthusiasm of individuals I have met in the month and a half the project has been in existence, not to mention how interesting they all are as people who ride bikes.

When I announced a bikeSummit in my own home, I had 16 of the most diverse bicyclists arrive at my doorstep (by bicycle) to have a productive AND positive conversation about the cycling community over dinner. There was a web programmer from Oakhill sitting next to one of the unofficial leaders of Critical Mass, sitting next to a bicycle shop owner, sitting next to a bicycle messenger, sitting next to a PHd candidate at UT, sitting next to a… And it was one of the most informative, exciting conversations I had the chance to be a part of.

So what’s in store the next couple of months?

The photographers will start shooting the lovely ladies later on this week and on through September. In the mean time the Bros will be designing the look/feel of the calendar and I will be recruiting resources to produce the final print version of the calendar by the end of October. Why the end of October? Because with the launch of The Cute Commute Calendar will be the launch of the bike+austin website. Sneaky huh.

The purpose of bike+austin is to unite new and experienced Austin cyclists by connecting existing facets of the Austin cycling community including advocacy, transportation, racing, and recreation. Bike+austin also strives to inspire the general public to view cycling and cyclists as a valuable part of the transportation ecosystem.

The goal of the website is to create an interactive virtual space for the community to find useful, current information regarding all things cycling in Austin. Bike+austin will feature local bicycle rider profiles to create a positive, personal connection between the general Austin public and the cycling community. Bike+austin will also include a calendar listing various cycling events, and a space to report stolen bicycles and aggressive driver situations.

The current atmosphere of the cycling community consists of fractioned groups that have minimal dialogue with one another. While the increase of gas prices and interest in cycling for transportation has started some lines of communication, no central information hub connects everything cycling in Austin together in a simple, yet appealing way.

In the meantime, my gal pals and I will be hitting the streets in our cute, cute, cute sundresses as we commute to work, the grocery store, the spa, for errands, for fitness, and for FUN. Come join us and be a part of something amazing.

M

bikeaustin@gmail.com

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