1,000 bikes for U.S. political conventions

The Freewheelin bike-sharing program has made a thousand bikes available for use at the U.S. Democratic national convention, which started yesterday. The same number will be available for use at next month’s Republican convention.

The Freewheelin’ program will be in Denver and Minneapolis-St. Paul during the conventions to lend out the free bicycles. Humana health insurance company and Bikes Belong advocacy group have joined forces to create the Freewheelin’ bike sharing program. .

The bikes will be available at eight bike stations in the convention and hotel areas of each city from about 7am until 7pm. Users don’t have to be associated with the conventions; they just need to show picture ID and a credit card to insure against theft.

According to Bikes Belong, the bicycles were donated by Trek, Schwinn, Raleigh, Specialized, Fuji and Giant. After the conventions Humana will be donating 70 bikes and the kiosks in each convention city for a bike-sharing program.

The bikes will be available in Denver at the Democratic National Convention from August 25 to 28, and in Minneapolis-St. Paul at the Republican National Convention, September 1-4.

Bikes Belong have a long track record of getting involved in successful programs to encourage biking, including helping to create the first legal mountain bike trail in New York at Queens’ CunninghamPark and providing some of the funding for MarinCounty’s Safer Routes to Schools program.

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