Bus Bike from Brazil
by Warren McLaren, Sydney 
on 11.14.05
The cooling of coastal sea breezes or CO2 emitting air conditioning? The smell of the ocean and sea salt, or the sweaty stench of a dozen people crammed in a confined space? The squawk of a seagull and squeals of kids building sandcastles, or the exhaltations from a reincarnated PE teacher? The idea of riding an exercise bike inside a bus, as it drives past the beach is just so surreal it reminds me of a classic Michael Leunig cartoon. This conveyed the image of a character showing their child a gorgeous sunset on TV — while the real thing is happening right outside their window. (See a copy in a 2.8 MB pdf here ). Life does imitate art. If you must see more of this lunacy, get your Portuguese phrasebook out and head off to ::Bus Bike.
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Not entirely unlike the Busycle Project here in the Boston area.
Cheers,
~sean
Now, if the bikes actually powered the bus....
This is the craziest thing I have ever seen. For those who don't know and can't tell from the copy, this bus, in Rio de Janeiro where the weather is pleasant for bicycling year-round, follows routes that already have bike paths. Just about any day of the year, you could hop on a bike and ride the route this bus follows on a dedicated bike path - for free! I used to live there, and Rio is one of the most bike-friendly cities I've seen.
The idea that someone would rather join an "academia" so they can ride a bus pedaling a stationary bike is almost inconceivable to me. Maybe in Fairbanks, but in Rio? I suppose it's so that the extremely wealthy and out of shape don't have to risk contact with the hoi polloi.
Wait I thought as treehuggers we wanted to encourage people to ride busses. :) I see your point though.
This doesn't make a lot of sense for a mostly sunny locale. Maybe if you were commuting and used this as a way to multitask (workout/commute) when the bus was actually taking you somewhere. But from the sound of the service they just go around and pick up people for the class.
This service makes as much sense as any gym that draws power to operate excercise equipment.
I do think people would go to the gym more if it came by their house/office and picked them up.