Nearly ten years ago a dramatic social experiment was taking place in downtown Spokane and it centered around the concept of 'free bikes'. One of the owners of Bikeworks located at Lincoln and 2nd Ave fixed up 50 bikes, painted them purple, and left them to fend for themselves on the mean streets of Spokane. And mean they were. Most ended up in the river, were stolen, or just plain beat down in the alleys.
The experiment had failed, as it has in most other cities it's been tried. But we think Spokane's ready for another shot. The concept has evolved, as has the appreciation and interest in 'complete streets' that serve all modes of transport - not just the car (look at Louisville, KY).
As for the technology, well it's evolved as well. Everything from Pittsburgh's free Blue Bike program (which is limited to use on the Three Rivers Heritage Trail System) to Paris' plans to unleash 20,000 free bikes at over 1400 stations across the city. Bikes are released from the stations via swipecard and the first 1/2 hour is free. That's mass transit on a mass scale. Consider how a similar program might change the dynamics in downtown Spokane. Might the timing be right? With gas prices around $3 again, we think so. "Hello, STA?"
Oh, the Paris model is being implemented by JC Decaux, the company we profiled awhile back about the free bus shelters in exchange for advertising rights.
Bellingham had a very similar program in the late 90's dubbed "the Yellow Bike program". As with Spokane this fair city’s program fell ill to the lack of ownership or investment necessary to keep these bikes on the street. Soon many yellow frames could be spotted deep in blackberry patches or parked behind dumpsters in alleys. This hip program fell apart without maintenance or authority to keep these bikes moving. Fortunately the initiators of this program kept their faith in humanity and did not cast away the possibility of a public infrastructure based on bicycles. In 2002 a core group of supporters began the pedal project. This umbrella group began "The Hub". A 501c3 that began to collect donated bike parts, from there they began refurbishing bikes at an exceptionally low price. Suddenly every one in the city had access to a cool $20 commuter bike that could get them from A to B in style and without petroleum. With ownership of the bike they began to fly out the door. Today the Hub is humming along stronger than ever, sponsoring bike to work projects, pancake feeds, public bike awareness forums, cheep bike repair services, shop and tool rentals, and most importantly providing the community with affordable recycled rides. The crew at this shop is amazing and they have truly donated their lives to the cause and it shows, mad props to the kids in Bellingham who found a way to get bikes into the community in a sustainable and eco friendly way. Check them out http://www.pedalproject.org
Posted by: Travis | April 18, 2007 at 09:54 AM
I don't know...
I think the bus depot kids could destroy 60-70 free bikes a day and after a while that adds up. We would need some sort of army of bike repair people to keep on top of it.
Maybe Al French could propose something like this for his exciting "I want to be Mayor '07" campaign?
Posted by: MK | April 19, 2007 at 07:07 AM
A new program may require some rethinking/retooling. Ten years ago...this is the stuff I remember about the program. It was conceived from committee challenged by one of the County Commissionaires at the time Steve Hanson. Steve’s vision was having free bicycles around the Courthouse for employees to use as required. Other community members had other ideas and wanted a community program. The media at the time was reporting many similar programs, like the one from Portland Oregon. Program nuts and bolts: Incoming bikes were donated and were sorted for the following (note: new would have been best) 10 speed bikes difficult to restore and were the bulk of what was donated. Not all bikes could be restored when people donate garbage bikes. 3:1 ratio. Cost labor/money to disassemble and store bikes not fit to restore, recycling and costs for queue and transport to a recycling business. The program took in over 300 bikes between the winter and spring to make 50 bikes that were operational. (Terrible ratio most were of the old school 10 speed variety and Huffy’s. Tune up work shops (a collection of Spokane Bicycle Club members, other volunteers and bike shop employees to rework the bikes. Front derailleurs were removed and chains modified for single speed operation. Tubes were filled with slime. Local bike shops like Bikeworks and Two Wheel Transfer (to mention a few) supported the program with donated supplies... or supplies had to be purchased with donated monies if available. (Replaced a lot of cables, tires, tubes, brake pads etc. A local auto/paint shop painted all the bikes and donated their labor and materials. The owner of BikeWorks was not a co manager of the Lilac Bike Program but supported the program. A metal laminated disclaimer was tagged to each bike frame and listed a contact phone number, do’s and don’t etc. 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. It was thought by many at the time that the word "free" may mean that the bikes could be kept for personal use and not returned for others to reuse (I noted people filling there pickups up with free bikes). Someone @ Gonzaga did a similar program (green bikes) and left them around the campus for free use. Boulder CO. and Portland OR. had free bike programs too that had better success. There is a free white bike program in the Netherlands but it is attached to the ticket price of the entry into Hogue Veluwe National Park near Arnheim NL. http://www.hogeveluwe.nl/page.asp?id=109 White bikes all single speeds, all the same step through variety all custom manufactured distributed at three pick up and drop off locations for free day use in the park. Was unable to verify a free bike program in Amsterdam during my travels. 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 “seed” bicycle for the project.
Posted by: Gerald Schuldt | April 19, 2007 at 08:41 AM
Two things about this program:
1) Spokane tried a free leave-them-around-town bike program years before more progressive cities (hello, Austin, TX). Even though the program failed, as it has, to my knowledge, in every other American city it has been tried--including Portland--Spokane and the folks who worked on Lilac Bikes all deserve a big pat on the back for at least trying to get more bikes out there. Way to go.
2) In talking to local bike folks who lived here during that time (I didn't--I was busy getting my bike stolen in San Francisco) I get the impression that some people feel that the failure of Lilac Bikes was a setback for bicycle activism in this town. If that's true it's a shame.
What we could really use now is a community bike shop with some sort of cheap/bike earn-a-bike program.
Posted by: Jon Snyder | April 23, 2007 at 08:48 AM