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So, I was at the library the other day,
and I got this book - "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies".
And I got it at the library
because I realized I didn't actually want a book.
I wanted the story inside the book.
The idea behind the library
is something called collaborative consumption.
It's the idea that I don't necessarily want a hand drill.
I want a hole in the wall.
It's the idea that I don't necessarily want a product.
I want the service that the product provides.
So, my thought is, why don't we take this idea
and extend it to transportation?
After all, I want to get somewhere.
I don't necessarily want the hassle of having a car,
or a bike, or a skateboard or a motorcycle.
What if, instead, we had, say, a fleet of bicycles,
that was available for anyone to use
to do short trips, say, for commuting, utilitarian purposes,
when someone comes by to visit the city?
It's called bike share, and it's really sweeping the nation.
Here's how it works.
This is an example from Minneapolis.
So, what if I wanted to go and take a short trip?
I could go and find a station nearby where I live or where I am,
sign up, say, for a day, a week, a month,
maybe even a year, if I want to,
for a very, very small price,
go and take the bike on the trip that I want
to another nearby station, park it,
and then I don't have to worry about anything like maintenance,
the cost of owning a bicycle or a theft.
It's the idea that I get all the benefit of the bicyle,
without any of the hassle of the ownership behind it.
So, why Fargo and why now?
Well, this idea is taking off in our peer cities,
like Washinton, D.C., Atlanta, Boston, Minneapolis, places like that,
where this idea succeeds because it brings people together
in good health and societal encouragement.
So, when we see events like Streets Alive, in downtown Fargo,
that really push alternative forms of transportation and collaboration,
the reason they succeed, in part,
is because they remind us of something that we've known all along:
that our societies and communities thrive
and really prosper when we all work and share together.
So, we believe that bicycle sharing can bring this to Fargo,
and we're really excited to make it happen.
Thank you.
(Applause)