Misuse seals yellow bikes' fate

Author: Eleanor Horowitz

After six years of freewheeling around campus, the Yellow Bikes Cooperative has locked up its fleet and will no longer be supplying its yellow bikes to the College community.

The decision to terminate the program this year did not come easy, according to coordinator Abel Fillion '09, who has been running the Yellow Bikes Cooperative along with Bobby Levine '08 for the last two years. Fillion and Levine met with Campus Sustainability Coordinator and Vice Chair of the Environmental Council Jack Byrne, and Director of Public Safety Lisa Boudah, to determine the fate of the yellow bikes this year. After a series of meetings, the decision was made to transition funds away from the yellow bikes and towards the Middlebury Bike Shop.

"The big problem with the yellow bike fleet was that there was no personal accountability," said Fillion. "There was no way to keep track of them. On one hand it was this great community thing. People were proud that we had yellow bikes, and it was a thing unique to Middlebury that students were attached to. On the other hand the community was trashing them."

Founded in 2001 with a fleet of nine recycled bicycles, the Yellow Bikes Cooperative was designed as an environmental initiative encouraging students to drive less and bike more. In its first year, students paid a small annual membership fee granting them a key to open the bike locks but since then the program has been free, allowing anyone to access the bikes whenever they were available.

Out of the fleet of over 40 bikes that Fillion and Levine inherited when they began coordinating the yellow bikes, only three remained in working condition at the start of the semester.

"It was really sad to us watching this fleet just die on us," said Fillion. "Bikes would disappear, one was thrown off the bridge." Additionally, there were never enough bikes to produce a significant environmental impact.

This year the money previously designated for the Yellow Bike Cooperative will be used to fund the Bike Shop. Located in the basement of Adirondack House, the student-run Bike Shop was founded last year by Hubert d'Autremont '08, Spencer Paxson '07.5 and Cameron Kowall '09 with a grant from the Environmental Council used to purchase new tools. The shop offers classes that teach the spectrum of bicycle maintenance issues and enables students to repair their own bikes or make their own from scratch. The Bike Shop hopes to open its door this week, according to d'Autremont. Once open, there will be fees for classes and a separate hourly fee for working in the shop, with the option of an annual membership for classes and unlimited bench time. Despite the fees, the shop will still be more cost-efficient than using a professional bike shop.

Although the absence of the yellow bikes was a letdown for some students returning to campus this fall, the termination of the program is not a sign that the use of bikes on campus is dwindling, and the improvements to the Bike Shop will be a convenient resource for bike enthusiasts.

"People are upset," said Fillion. "I'm kind of upset too. It was a great feel-good program, but the bikes would not last and that became pretty apparent."

Even first-year students have noticed the missing bikes.

"I've been wondering where they are," said Maria Perille '11. "The tour guide lied to me! I guess I'll have to walk now."

According to Fillion, the yellow bikes will not be returning in the foreseeable future.

"It remains to be seen how the momentum starts building around the bike co-op. There is a chance of seeing them in the future, but it would take a big advancement in money."