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Share Your CicLAvia PHOTOS Here
As 100,000 vehicle-free people jam 10 miles of streets and the mayor unveils a novel plan to add 4,000 bicycles to the city under a $16-million bike-share program, you have to wonder if L.A. has a new addiction.
Some 100,000 people turned up Sunday for the city's fourth vehicle-free CicLAvia event in less than two years, turning 10 miles of streets stretching from Boyle Heights to East Hollywood into a surprisingly orderly network of cyclists, pedestrians and skateboarders.
Not a single accident—or incident of unruly behavior—was reported, according to an LAPD spokesperson quoted by the Los Angeles Times.
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced a privately funded bike-share program under which 400 kiosks around the city will soon begin making available to the public as many as 4,000 bicycles. The $16-million venture is the brainchild of Bike Nation, a Southern California company, whose blue-colored kiosks were visible downtown on Sunday near City Hall. (The first bike-share kiosks are scheduled to be open in the fourth quarter of 2012, according to the company's website.)
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“This is a city known for its single-passenger automobile," Villaraigosa said at a news conference held against the backdrop of people enjoying music and food on the sidewalks from 10 a.m. to well after the event's 3 p.m. closure. "But we’re starting to get addicted to our bikes.”
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