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Sister Organizations

From Free Cycles Missoula

This article's main purpose is to help guide anyone interested in helping to start a community cycling organization in their city. It is certainly not a manual or recipe for startup, as every community is unique and every individual or group has different ways of going about things. It is intended to shine some light on important issues to consider.

A Quick History

Free Cycles Missoula was started in spring of 1996 by a handful of University of Montana students who became excited about the prospect of placing free green bicycles on the street for all to enjoy. Missoula's traffic was getting worse, streets were being widened, and the long-term outlook for retaining a livable city did not look good. After doing a little research and finding no reason not to give it a try, we called the local paper to see if they might want to run a story. The resulting front-page article ended with a plea for help. Within 3 days we had 300 bicycles in our yard, a hundred volunteers, and 20 businesses wanting to contribute $50 each to sponsor a bike- the idea had come alive.

Over pizza and beverages at 302 E. Sussex Ave, about 15 people gathered to make a game plan. It was too easy- we made a big list of all the local businesses in town that we thought would be into the idea. We decided that the bikes would have metal plates welded into the frame to provide a place for a 'thank you', and to make the bicycle distinct and unique. We then divided up the 100 or so businesses among ourselves to visit personally- each of us taking businesses that we had some sort of connection to. We had little folders that described what we wanted to do and how the business could participate. For a $50 donation a business could have their logo painted onto the plate of a green bike.

All 3 major highschools in town were called for help- and all 3 said yes. One school welded the plates into the frames, one school painted artwork, and one school built baskets out of old gym lockers. With 50 sponsors, and thus 50 bikes, we needed all the help we could get. In hindsight, having so many community hands working on the bikes brought a lot of ownership and enthusiasm to the program. The bikes were released on May 11th, 1996- about 3 months after wondering if a green bike program could happen in Missoula.

To the Present

Green Bikes have helped Missoula become more of a 'bicycle town.' This has happened in many different ways- having free bikes on the streets, people learning how to fix bikes, the sprouting of other programs, and the outlet for people to get involved, even it's just to talk about what a free bike program is and how it's working.

Some bikes disappear (see chart below), and some ware out. This is OK. If the only goal is to provide a reliable transportation option, then a free-roaming bike program is probably not the answer- that would be a checkout program. The magic of a free roaming bike program is more in the sharing of community resources and the sharing of public space. What we have found is that a combination of programs works really well.

Some observations and suggestions regarding the design of a free-roaming public bike: a metal plate welded into the frame is important (distinguishes the bike, keeps theft low, provides art space), the bikes must be bomber before being released, coaster brakes are a bonus, an 'in-use' system is optional, female cruiser-style bikes work best, and a small 'introduction' dangling from the back of the seat is a nice touch ("Hi, I'm a free green bike, built by the community for the community, ride me where you need to go, leave me for the next person...call x for repairs or fix me yourself, enjoy the ride").

In the case of free-roamin' green bikes, less might actually be more. A fleet of 30 seems to work well for our city of about 60,000. But you cannot just dump a load of bikes into the streets- a support system is essential. Some observations and suggestions regarding a support system for a free-roaming public bike program: volunteers on the streets and in neighborhoods are key, green bikes are shy and like to hang in very low auto-traffic areas, a donated repair spot is critical, a program that teaches bicycle repair to the same kids who are the most likely to abuse the green bikes is a great investment, get local shops involved (no matter how small the involvement), and continually dream up new projects to help build bike culture into your community.

Other programs that have sprouted over the last few years:

Checkout Missoula- a bicycle library that lends out all sorts of bikes that come with lock and key and a return time.

Community Cycle Shop- build a bike, learn to fix bikes, get free used parts, borrow tools (this donated space also serves as a good gathering place). This has always been free form, but we are considering the encouragement of some kind of return. This could be a certain number of volunteer hours, a certain task, a donation of some sort, or left open to the shop user. One must be careful though- some of the most magical moments have come from this free form and getting too rigid with requirements can destroy the good will. But on the other hand, too much free form can be frustrating for both the shop user and the shop volunteer or coordinator- it's a fine line to balance that comes with intuition and experience.

Pedal Education- our outreach to the community that includes everything from story telling with 4-year olds to presenting slide shows on bicycle facilities to city council.

Festival of Cycles- an annual bicycle extravaganza that includes a giant community bike building session, free used parts, kid's cycle safety and games, bike tune-ups, free food and music, blocked off streets, and a special program entitled 'Cycles of the Community' that demonstrates the workings of the water cycle, energy cycle, nutrient cycle and air cycle.

Recommendations

The following is a set of recommendations based on the experiences
of Free Cycles Missoula:

Space

Find space before looking for bikes. This could be donated space or you could raise money to pay for space. Make sure the space is in a good location, has access to a bathroom and water, and can be secured.

Bikes

We have had 2400 bicycles donated in five years. We estimate that there are another 2000 bikes in the region waiting to be donated. Put the word out in the form of media announcements (it's free), flyers, word of mouth, etc. Try to set up a recovery system for landfills and recycling centers. A landfill manager may be more apt to collect bikes if you provide the container and perform regular pickups. The same is true for metal recycling centers. Recovering the bikes before they get to a landfill or scrap metal recycle center is the better approach.

The bikes should be sorted as soon as they come in- matching the bike to a program. Great bikes can be checkouts (free loaner bikes with a return date and key and lock). Better bikes can be fixer-uppers, loaners, given away or free-roaming. The worst bikes may go for parts, human-powered vehicle creation, wind chimes or whatever.

Parts

It is imperative to have a 'parts wall.' This is what makes a shop run smooth. Whether you are teaching workshops on bike building or sorting a box of donated chains, reflectors, and seats, having a place for everything can make the difference between having a frustrating room of clutter and having a well-organized place that people want to be in. Big parts need big containers and small parts need small containers. We have used brake arms for hanging wheels, pieces of rims or drop handle bars for hanging tires or tubes, wooden boxes and drawers for items like cranks, pedals, and seats, card catalogues for small parts, and plenty of shelves to house boxes and hang chains and forks. Our parts wall is always evolving and getting better.

Keep good parts and bad parts separated but near each other. Often it's the bad parts that provide pieces to make the good parts or repair a broken item. Another approach is to strip all bad parts of good components. Our lowest 3 categories consist of an 'art part' box, a recycling box, and, lastly, the trash can. We also have a wok that we keep filled with small misc. pieces for the art teacher who comes by every few months to collect things her students can make mobiles with. The secret to the whole parts process is to have lots of containers, lots of labels, and flexibility in moving things around to meet you current needs.

Tools

To put together or rebuild bikes you need good tools. We started by going to yard sales and getting the tools donated from pawnshops and second hand stores. We also used some business donations and some University money to buy about $800 worth of tools. We paint all the tools green and etch FCM onto the handle.

Occasionally a tool disappears. We made the decision to live with this and replace the tool rather than become stringent on who uses what. We have been very lenient and let many people use the shop at once, sharing tools and expertise among each other. We have not yet devised a perfect system for efficient use of workstations and tools.

Buying tools wholesale saves money but is a hassle. It might be just as well to raise extra money and support the local bike shops. You can also keep a large, posted list at the shop so people can see what the shop needs and what they might be able to donate.

People

To make the whole thing work takes a lot of people performing a variety of functions. Someone needs to help start programs, answer the phone messages, raise money, coordinate volunteers, talk to people on the street, and generally make sure responsibilities are met. We are at the point of deciding whether we want to stay all volunteer or raise money for a paid position. As the program builds, there will be no shortage of volunteers. Keep good lists and give people opportunity to meaningfully contribute. Sources of volunteers include student interns, senior citizens, kids, civic clubs, and so on. Some tasks must be laid out specifically (like patching a bunch of inner tubes) and some tasks should leave the creativity up to the volunteer (like painting a shop sign). Along with a main coordinator (or 2), some kind of board or support group should be in place. These people are more than just volunteers; they help make decisions, guide programs, raise money, and play major roles at events (like a Festival of Cycles).

Money

Our philosophy has been to try and eliminate expenses rather than raise money to cover them. This works well in most cases. Missoula has been incredible as far as people donating space, bikes, labor, food, copies, supplies, etc. Items we have needed money for include tools, phone, postage, and some supplies like cable housing, grease, nuts and bolts, and patch kits. We also have been using new rear coaster wheels and tires for our free-roaming green bikes. The money has come from local businesses (4k), private donations (3k), grants (6k), and fundraisers like benefit concerts, green bucket drives, and raffles (3k). Be creative in obtaining needed resources.

Nuts and Bolts

Come up with a good name for your program, create a unique logo, open a bank account, get a phone (we use a $6 per month voice mail system) with a detailed message recording, keep good community relations in the form of flyers, press releases, op-eds, etc., stay in touch with the bike shops in town, network with other programs in other cities and other transportation organizations in your city, consider a web page, have a mail box, have fun.

Vision

As far as vision goes, we bounce back and forth from the grand to the day to day. Building and repairing a few bikes a day is a great way to contribute to community and make a positive change. But also having a wider vision of what the future might look like is just as important. That vision drives us along in restoring hundreds of bicycles, creating new programs, and sparking others to follow their dreams. We are currently looking for a new Community Cycling Center (Bikosphere) to house the renovation of used bicycles. We have several ideas about what this new spot could be…a regional bicycle transportation center, a learning center, a transportation hub with checkout bikes and electric vehicles, a community gathering place, or maybe all of this in one. Whatever your vision may be, just get it started. The journey will take care of itself!

For more information, contact Free Cycles Missoula at (406) 541-7284

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