Madonna of the Yellow Bikes

I recently read somewhere that there is not an available bicycle in the city of London. Every bike for rent or for sale has been snapped up by former mass transport commuters. There are even stories of weary pedestrian commuters offering cyclists large sums of money for the bikes under their butts. As a frequent cycle commuter myself, I see that this may soon become the urban transport of many folks, for one reason or another. My sister who lives in D.C. has not taken the Metro since 9/11, has taken very few city buses, and now won't take any, ever. What does that leave? In a city like Washington? Bikes! Or, to refer back to a previous post, solar scooters!

Anyway, I ran across this nice little article in the Austin Chronicle, an alternative city paper, and want to pass it along. Austin is perhaps my favorite American city, certainly it's my favorite Texas city. A city where the latest in high technology, high-dollar malls and state-of-the-art film and music showcases exist cheek by jowl with organic-food diners, hole-in-the-wall Mexican food places with really good food, boot-stompin' dance halls, and hippies, both old and new. It's a city with a large University population, and many students never leave the city even after they graduate. It's also a city with a very high environmental consciousness. This story on the Yellow Bike Project perfectly captures the heart and soul of Austin

Resurrecting donated and discarded bicycles that would otherwise inhabit a landfill, retooling them mechanically, slapping on a coat of yellow paint, and releasing them into the community is just a small part of what Austin's Yellow Bike Project does. In addition to empowering people to own, repair, and ride bikes, Yellow Bike does its part to reconcile the impacts of our country's car-centered culture by getting people on bikes and helping them gain independence from cars for transportation, said Jennifer Schaffer, a veteran Yellow Bike volunteer. "From community isolation problems, to obesity, to air pollution, to war, there are so many problems this country has that can be solved if people would just get out of their cars and ride bikes more" Schaffer said.

From the Chronicle story I went on to the Yellow Bike website itself. Here's how they see their mission:

What is the Yellow Bike Project?
Austin's Yellow Bike Project (YBP) is a community project designed to promote human-powered transportation for the central Austin area. People-power is a way to limit the traffic congestion of a rapidly growing city. It also provides a sane alternative to the reliance on motor vehicles. Our projects promote cleaner air, land, and water, while encouraging people to meet their transportation needs through community participation. Our main projects are:

Yellow Bikes
We recycle donated bikes, tune them up, and give them a new coat of bright yellow paint. they're free to ride but not to keep. On January 25, 1997, volunteers released the first 24 bikes with the aid of the Bikes Not Bombs shop. To date, the Yellow Bike Collective has released over 600 community free bikes.

If you find a yellow bike leaning against a wall, post, or wherever the last rider left it, get on and ride to your destination. After you get there, leave the bike in an obvious place for the next rider. It's that simple. Yellow Bikes are lock-free, and are not to be taken inside or held onto except for the time that the rider is actually on the bike. The Yellow Bike Liberation Crew is on the constant lookout for incarcerated community bikes, and we free them when we find them.

There are similar projects in other American cities: Portland, Houston, New Orleans, Pittsburgh, Boston. And this is a good thing. We'll need these bikes pretty soon, when gas is five dollars a gallon and it costs fifty dollars to fill even a small car's tank. No, yellow bikes won't have the same impact a sane and comprehensive Energy Bill or international agreement on target goals for cleaning up the global atmosphere would - but community action is where we all can start.

Somewhere along the way in reading for this post, I discovered the Patron Saint of Cyclists. Yes! La Madonna del Ghisallo. Do you think I can find a statue to put on my handlebars?

| +Save/Share | |