Did you bike to Monday’s Eco Salon?
Posted: 5:28PM May 12th, 2011 | Comments
Monday night 25 people gathered at Brocach to talk about Bikes (yes Eco-Salons are now moved to the second Monday of every month, so hopefully no one will show up tonight looking for a fantastic sustainability event).
The night started off with bike stories from audience members. A surprising number of attendees own multiple bikes (not just 2 or 3 but SEVEN). If you are intimidated by these bike connoisseur, you should check out a new manufacturer in town: Stray Cat Bicycles. Travis, Stray Cat’s owner shared his hope that he can bring all you non-bike commuters into the joy of leaving your car at home when you leave for the office in the morning.
After the “open mic” we heard from Arthur Ross, head Bike Coordinator for the City of Madison, who hopes to work himself out of a job one day by ensuring that all City Planners and staff consider bike accessibility in the design and implementation of projects. I suppose we should judge his success not by still having a job 24 years later, but by the fantastic pro-bike things Madison implements - like the Red Bike Boxes and Ride the Drive.
Next Brian Conger, currently (well for two more days) Bike Fed’s Statewide Outreach Coordinator and soon to be B-cycle Manager at Trek, joined the stage. He re-affirmed the exciting news that The City of Madison will be starting B-Cycle within the month! (Did you know Brian also has a love of muscle cars?) While B-cycle could be a substitute for owning a bike, that is not Trek’s intention; instead they are hoping to encourage people to go without car for short A to B trips. For those that have an annual pass to B-cycle any trip under 30 minutes will be free. This first year will be a year of experimentation for B-cycle on drop off locations in and around the Isthmus and different pricing structures to best fit the users needs.
The Sustain Dane office is certainly hoping for a B-Cycle dock at the corner of Willy and Patterson for those unusal days when someone drives to work but has a meeting on the square or campus.
