Eugene Celebration 2011:
It’s Good to be Queen Life in the slime-light with Eugene’s new Slug Queen
Reject Roundup Eugene Celebration’s “other” art show
Piercy’s Picks and More Eugene’s most mayoral art show
Ride Your Bike and Share It, Too B-cycling to save the planet and pocket book
Bed-Hur Drag-racing beds through the streets of Eugene
Ride Your Bike and Share It, Too
B-cycling to save the planet and pocket book
Riding a bike is good for the planet, but sharing a bike is even better. At the Eugene Celebration, you can see exactly what bike sharing is all about with the help of the innovative B-cycle, which will be demoed at a booth sponsored by point2point Solutions.
“The concept of bike sharing makes a lot of sense,” says Lisa VanWinkle, school solutions coordinator at point2point. Bike sharing through the B-cycle program consists of fleets of bikes (or B-cycles) at various stations that can be checked out, used and returned as needed. VanWinkle sees bike sharing as a way to help people taking public transportation “solve that last mile” between the bus station and their final destination.
The B-cycle is taking bike sharing to the next level, creating stations where people can use their credit cards or B-cards (like library cards) to check out a bike and then return it to another station — or the same one — later. Bikers can sign up for a membership, allowing them unlimited access to B-cycles, or pay-per-use on an hourly rate. The Wisconsin-based program, which has been gaining popularity in cities across the U.S., says that installing B-cycle stations not only reduces carbon emissions but also decreases obesity.
VanWinkle and point2point Solutions say bike sharing is a way of making alternative transportation methods more convenient by creating more options and greater accessibility. This is the key to getting more people to choose ways of getting around that don’t involve gas.
For now, Eugene doesn’t have a B-cycle program, but point2point does offer a bike locker rental program at some LTD stations, where bikers can store their bikes for a refundable lock deposit.
VanWinkle says she hopes bike sharing will become popular in Eugene, as it will provide more convenient alternatives for people looking to eliminate solo driving.
She says she hopes that when people see the B-cycle and learn about bike sharing they “think about (transportation) options that they might want to try, or think about options they want to share with others.”
The B-cycle booth will be located in the Sustainability Village during the Eugene Celebration, along with more information about bike sharing and eco-friendly transportation choices. — Kendall Fields