TALLINN - If all goes according to plan, a new form of public transportation will be introduced to the streets of Tallinn next spring. It will be convenient, environmentally friendly and, best of all, nearly free.
And depending on your taste, it may also be stylishly retro.
At an Aug. 5 press conference, the Prussakov Bicycle Union, a nonprofit, Tallinn-based bike club, announced the launching of a program to collect hundreds of old, Soviet-era bikes, fix them up and make them freely available to anyone who wants to take a spin around the city.
Under the plan, the red-painted bikes could be picked up or returned at any of 11 supervised points located throughout town, providing residents an easy, no-nonsense way to get from A to B.
The project - Arata ratas ellu (Bring the bicycle back to life) - is the initiative of Prussakov's leader, Erko Valk, the same bike enthusiast who introduced the Velotakso bicycle-taxis to Tallinn earlier this year. Aside from giving commuters a low-cost, low-pollution transport alternative, Valk hopes these resurrected, Soviet-designed "red bikes of Tallinn" will become a memorable part of the cityscape.
"What makes them really great are that they are old, they have their own story, and they are stylish and cool. Nobody has those bikes anymore," he said.
The government and private businesses seem equally enthusiastic. At the organization's press conference, Vice Mayor Juri Ratas (whose surname coincidentally means "bicycle" in Estonian) demonstrated the city's support for the project by spray-painting one of the bikes red in front of TV cameras.
The Tallinn government has donated 30,000 kroon (1,900 euros) to cover the repair of 200 bikes.
The Internet weather portal ilm.ee is also sponsoring the nonprofit project by providing publicity and information on how to donate used bikes, and a waste-management company, Ragn-Sells, is assisting with bike collection.
So far 250 of the necessary 1,000 bikes have been collected, and everything appears to going according to plan.
However, the road ahead may not be smooth. Similar schemes have been tried in cities all over the world since the concept was pioneered in Amsterdam in the 1960s, and theft has always been a major problem. In 2001, a public bike project in Vilnius ran into disaster when all of the bikes disappeared within the first week.
To minimize the risk of theft, the bikes will be locked in supervised stations until users check them out, possibly using Estonia's national ID card and a PIN code, according to Valk.
"If we lose a bike, then we have somebody to call," he said.
Also, the system won't be completely free. Users will have to register for the season, paying a 100 kroon fee, which will go toward maintenance costs.
Putting hurdles aside, the project will officially begin during the spring of 2005, but Tallinn residents may get a one- or two-week preview starting Sept. 22 (International Car Free Day), when Valk plans to test the system at three downtown points - the railway station, the tourist information center and the Viru Center bus station.
