Bikes

On an average day, if you were walking for four hours around Wiesbaden (a German city of 280,000 residents).....you would come around to 300-odd bike parking "dumps" in the city.

This is usually where a couple of guys just started to park their bike.  Sometimes, it's near a bike-stand....sometimes it's just attached to some rail.

The thing is....you start to notice that some bikes have flat tires or severe damage, and it kinda occurs to you that it's been parked there for several years....never moving.

I would take a guess that there are around 10,000 unused bikes laid out across the city spectrum....which have been there for a fairly long time.  Some were stolen....some were just dumped.

You'd think that the city would organize this a bit.....put up racks....demand registered bikes....fine people....etc.

It's one of those odd stories of German urban life.  Back twenty-five years ago.....bikes could still be bought (at least used) for around 25 DM's.  Today....for a new bike of the cheapest type....you still have to hustle up 250 Euro.  People get used to stolen bikes and just grumble because the cops and the authorities have no interest in recovering their property or fixing the problem.