10ch

Hey ya'll - didn't know if you'd read about this program at the University of Calgary. They've repaired and painted 10 bikes and are providing them for free around campus. If you need a bike, you take it, use it and leave it so someone else can do the same.

https://www.ucalgary.ca/oncampus/week...05/u-bike.html

I'm thinking of talking to my uni's bike advocacy group about doing similar. It's an idea from the 60s (org. in the Netherlands) that seems to be creating a buzz.

Anyone have anything similar in their neck o'the woods?

-phaedrus-

10ch, i'm at duke....as i assume you are. let's do this, seriously.

10ch

I'm totally up for it. I'll pm you my contact info.

eubi

Sorry to be such a cynic, but after a few weeks, I'll bet a lot of free bikes are given away.

pinkrobe

I am SO going to steal one of those this weekend...

the homealien

I live in Champaign-Urbana, and a friend and I are trying to start a community bike program. Check it out, and let me know if you're interested in the idea or if you want to help out.

https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/ro/www/IlliniBicycleProject/

2manybikes

Better use a U-lock on the U-bikes. I believe the netherlands program ended with most of the bikes being stolen. Even thought they were painted yellow.

zip22

there was a program in madison a long time ago. the bikes were around for one season. they were either just stolen or thrown in the lake.

Blue Order

My law school has a similar program. There are approximately 5 bikes, painted orange, that are available for free to any law student (probably staff & faculty as well, although I seriously doubt they need it). The bikes are locked to the bike racks. If you need a bike, you go to the library, check out a key for the lock, and the bike is your to use for 24 hours. When you're done with the bike, you check the key back in. They also have a bicycle repair cabinet, and if you need to make a repair, you can check out a key to the cabinet, get the tools you need, and return them when you're done. When you're done with the key, you check it back in. There's a written record of who checked out which key on which day, so if something were to "disappear" there's a record of who had it last. These bikes have been available for years without being stolen-- probably because they're kept locked, and because there's a record of who's using them.

Additonally, the school provides shower facilities for bicycle commuters.

unkchunk

Portland Oregon had free use yellow bikes a few years ago. I hear rumors that sometimes people still see one of them every now and then.

https://c2.com/ybp/

I think the program will work only if you keep introducing new free bikes into the system. It's critical that the introduction rate equal or exceed the disappearance rate. Portland estimated at least 1,000 new bikes a year. Anyways, just because it's failed everywhere else doesn't necessarily mean it will fail in NC.

2manybikes

Doing it that way makes a lot of sense, you really need good acountability. But you need to add the price of a good lock to every bike.

Longhorn

Lots of info about Austin's Yellow Bike program and links to similar programs here: https://www.austinyellowbike.org/