Spokane's Community Bicycles - A bit more history

[Image Courtesy of Gerald Schuldt]

From the Lilac Bike comments section yesterday comes an explanation from Gerald Schuldt who has first hand knowledge of the work that went into Spokane's first (and only) community bike program.

Some very interesting background:

• It was conceived from committee, challenged by one of the County Commissioners at the time Steve Hanson
• The program took in over 300 bikes between the winter and spring to make 50 bikes that were operational
• Local bike shops like Bikeworks and Two Wheel Transit supported the program with donated supplies... or supplies had to be purchased with donated monies if available
• A local auto/paint shop painted all the bikes and donated their labor and materials
• Many News Media sources supported program including the Spokesman Review and all the TV stations
• Bicycles entirely disappeared from the streets of Spokane within two weeks

Gerald continues, "Taking ownership may be a key, perhaps it'€™s time for someone to take ownership of a new bicycle recycling project for Spokane? I happen to have a "€œseed"€ bicycle for the project." 

We still think a community bike program would be a great project for STA to undertake within the downtown and surrounding areas.  It could help us migrate towards a more cycling friendly locale more in tune with the oft quoted, "Near nature.  Near perfect."  Imagine 100 of these babies parked around downtown for your use. 

Comments

[Jaspenelle]

Though I ride my own bicycle to work I think this would be a wonderful idea, and at the same time I fear it would fail again if it was executed as it was last time.

I use to live in Paris and I am not surprised they are doing their own bike program. Traffic is horrendous and the city has always been mostly bike friendly. Spokane is not big enough to implement something on that scale but I think the idea could be scaled down to work downtown.

[Travis]

Although community bike programs are cool and serve an element of the population that could not normally afford bikes I would propose that Spokane continues to look at the infrastructure that supports riding within our community as is themed with this wonderful Blog. If Spokane is serious about pedal power and truly wants to provide a lasting program for our community I suggest we look across the cascades at the ground-breaking bicycle plan developed by the City of Seattle and introduced by Mayor Nichols. If all of the projects in the 20M plan become reality the plan will truly make a lasting impact on how people ride and who considers partaking in rolling their own wheels.