Help New Orleans Via Bicycling

by Larry Lagarde

If you're visiting New Orleans soon for French Quarter Fest, JazzFest or simply to enjoy our awesome Springtime weather, here's a thought:

Take the money it would cost to rent a bicycle or car for your visit and buy a bike instead from RideTHISbike.com. When you're done with the bike, we'll make it a snap to donate your bike to a worthy local non-profit that's looking to make New Orleans greener and more environmentally sustainable.

Most major New Orleans tourism destinations are clustered within easy bicycling range of one another. As a result, if you're in the French Quarter, Downtown, Warehouse District, Marigny, etc., chances are you'll get around faster on a bicycle than you could driving a car or taking a taxi.

By donating your bike at the end of your visit, you can help a variety of charitable, non-profit organizations that are working hard to improve life in New Orleans. In fact, here's how one non-profit plans to use bikes to fulfill a core mission.

Green Light New Orleans
Green Light installs modern compact fluorescent lighting (CFL's) in homes free of charge. To date, they've removed over 150,000 incandescent lights, eliminating @ 60 million kilowatt hours of electric consumption at a savings of $7 million.

To make their CFL light bulb program even greener, Green Light wants volunteers to ride adult folding trikes to install CFL's. Our folding tricycles are ideal because they have a low center of gravity, making them very stable even when the rear basket is loaded with CFL's. Since the trikes fold compactly, they take up less room in Green Light's cramped warehouse too.

Several other non-profits have expressed interest in accepting JazzFest bikes as donations. Look for more about their plans for donated bicycles later this week.

NOTE:
Per Mandy Decker with the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, bike racks will be available at both the Gentilly & Savage Street gates to JazzFest.