Capital Bike Share... LOOK AND LISTEN!

I love Capital Bike Share
Capital Bike Share is good for the City!
Capital Bike Share is good for the people of the City?

it is exciting... it is all very exciting
I watched this project assemble in front of me

I witnessed people from the bicycle community join forces and build this program
take a thought and create a reality
there was an opening date... stations were placed were no stations were before
bikes were built and put where no bikes were before
they opened on time

people joined... people swiped their cars
the bikes flooded the streets

everyone was excited
those who were a part of it thought they were living a bicycle dream
I would see teams of Capital Bike Share staff hustling about the streets on their bikes with their tool going from station proudly making sure that the bikes were in tip top shape

A Bicycle Dream Job!
working on bikes... providing bikes... and getting paid
being treated like an adult with an adult job
that whole full time job with vacation and benefits thing
for many of these people transitioning from a life as mechanics... messengers... bike shop employee etc.
this sounded like a dream come true

well... as it turns out
the Bicycle Dream Job is not what it claimed to be
I heard frustration around town
there was a buzz that paid vacation had been stripped from its workers
and that full time employees had been degraded to part time so that health benefits would not have to be paid

I do not know the extent of this
information came to me third hand
things were told to me in passing on the street or with loud music playing in a bar

well... last night I saw an event on FACEBOOK
one of the frustrated employees is trying to have his voice heard
or maybe he is a frustrated former employee

CAPITAL BIKE SHARE... WHERE THE LITTLE GUY DOESN'T DESERVE HEALTH INSURANCE
FACEBOOK PAGE

more on this later...