1

Entrepreneur rides 'Bikes for Clunkers'

The view from Jonathan Maus' bike in Portland, Ore., traffic.

To view this content, Javascript must be enabled and Adobe Flash Player must be installed.

Get Adobe Flash player

TEXT OF STORY

Bill Radke: The Cash for Clunkers program ended yesterday
for car shoppers. Car dealers now have until Noon Eastern time today now to file their electronic paperwork and get reimbursed for the rebates they gave customers.

And when something works, of course you copy it. So some people are trying to build on the success
of Cash for Clunkers. Joe Doebele owns a bike store in Portland, Ore.

JOE DOEBELE: What would actually make a difference and make a statement at the same time, would be actually accepting clunker cars, or any cars, through the American Lung Association, bring your receipt in from that, and get a discount on a bike.

Customers also get a discount for a local car-sharing service, so they can still haul their stuff around.

Doebele says you can load stuff from bikes, but a keg on there if you want to, which sounds slightly precarious to me, but a fine idea.

Schuyler Marsh's picture
Schuyler Marsh - Aug 25, 2009

Genius idea. Unfortunately, I don't think that the bike discount aspect will fly that high. However, discounts on car-sharing or somehow subsidizing public transportation for the individual who "de-clunked" is brilliant!