Buscycle

[talon]

I know there are those who consider this over-the-top, but I think, with some modifications, I'd quite like the buscycle.

It needs a shell about it to protect the passenger/cyclists, and I'd face the seats forward instead of out (unless it's specifically a sight-seeing bus) because I like seeing both sides of the street, and there would be places for wheelchairs/scooters, and the bus driver would have to have some way to engage and disable the passengers' pedaling efforts so they don't keep going when he sees they need to stop, and possibly some sort of power assist for when there are steep hills, too few passengers to move the bus on their pedal power alone, or too many passengers are unwilling to participate.

But yeah, I neither think this is going too far, nor that the passengers are galley slaves on Mediterranean oarships. After all, the pedaling bus passengers can get off the bus at any time they wish and they are pedaling to reach their own destinations, not for the needs of the bus company, other than the usual profit from the collection of fares.

In large cities where the traffic moves slowly anyway, I think this is a perfectly good option - passengers can pedal and still read their books or listen to their iPods and feel good about reducing pollution and improving the environment (at least locally - there's some question about the environmental effects of building these buscycles) and getting cardio-vascular exercise. It's win-win, except possibly on the environment front, and even that might be a win, too.