Once Again City Politicos Don't Walk The Talk

Why can't the left wing environuts not find money to fund a project that is a win-win situation for the citizens and the enviroment? Could it be that this would reduce ridership on the TTC during the spring, summer and fall? Even our your mayor and city council could be that petty. But then again maybe they could.

CAN BIKESHARE BE SAVED?
The award-winning yellow bike program is about to bite the dust – but one city staffer has a vision to rescue it

If Maogosha Pyjor had her way, yellow bikes would be as ubiquitous in Toronto as yellow taxicabs are in New York.

As project manager of BikeShare, Canada's largest and longest-running bike-lending program, Pyjor grew closer to seeing this dream become a reality each year. In the past six years, BikeShare has scattered 243 yellow bikes, marked with playful names such as Blue Elephant, Napoleon and Froggi Eyes, throughout the city. For a small annual fee ($50 if you make a decent wage, $30 if you're a student or receive a low income, free if you donate four hours of volunteer time), the program's 400-plus members could sign out a bike like a library book to use as they please for up to three days at one of 16 downtown hubs.

The yellow fleet now safely rests in the bowels of Lamport Stadium, where it's been stored every winter since the program started in 2001. But come spring, instead of being tuned up and lent out to eager cyclists, Lamport Stadium is where the bikes may stay.

Running BikeShare this past year has been a rollercoaster ride of disappointments and successes for Pyjor. One week the organization was receiving the Bike Friendly Business Award from the City of Toronto; a few days later, Pyjor was writing a press release announcing that the program will have to be shut down if it doesn't receive adequate funding.

In December, the Community Bicycle Network (CBN), BikeShare's parent organization, announced that the internationally renowned, award-winning program would close due to lack of funding. (A mere week after BikeShare announced it would officially close, the city honoured it yet again with the Community Project Award of Excellence for "an original approach to reducing emissions and encouraging cycling.") And last week, Pyjor, who has coordinated the operation since the beginning and has played a large part in its success, announced that she has decided to move on – despite a new hope that the program can be revived.

"It was just sheer will that we were able to keep the project funded after [the first] three years," says Pyjor candidly. "The more years we were in operation, the more time we spent writing grant applications for smaller amounts of funds."

CITY HALL'S POSSIBLE SOLUTION

Bringing BikeShare back to life, and how the city could play a role in this, is an idea only now starting to echo through the municipal towers at Queen and Bay. After one month of work behind the scenes, one renegade city employee may have found just the solution – and cash within the city's recreation budget – to get the organization up and running again in a new form. If all goes according to Parks, Forestry and Recreation staffer Allan Crawford's plan, BikeShare will be able to reach out to those who didn't even know it existed this summer and CBN will develop new partnerships that will help sustain the program for years to come.

When CBN asked Crawford, who runs the city's Inner City Outtripping Centre, for permission to store the yellow bikes in Lamport Stadium for the whole year (not just the winter), the thought of perfectly good bikes sitting unused for so long inspired him to take action. His idea: run BikeShare out of community centres with Parks, Forestry and Recreation footing the bill to hire a project manager and mechanic. The money, he says, is already there. Funds can be found by simply reallocating cash from underused programs, such as that guitar class nobody signed up for. Best of all, by running hubs out of community centres, the program will be able to reach a broader audience.

"How does having a hub at Jet Fuel introduce people to bikes?" he asks, referring to the popular hangout for bike couriers on Parliament Street, which has generously provided a BikeShare hub since the program began. "The people who go there are already avid cyclists."

The second part of Crawford's plan is to partner with the Learning Enrichment Foundation (LEF), a non-profit organization that provides affordable skills training, to teach youth and unemployed adults bike-maintenance skills. He'd be building on a program Parks, Forestry and Recreation, LEF and the Independent Bicycle Dealers Association ran last year called BAM – Bicycle Assembly and Maintenance – Skill Development, which provided participants with skills needed to find jobs in the industry. And since there's actually a demand for certified bike mechanics, Crawford says every one who took part found employment upon completing the course.

"BikeShare has over 100 bikes. Someone's going to be maintaining them," Crawford argues. "Why not train people at the same time?"

The next step, a crucial one for this kind of program to be sustainable, is to get large retailers, such as Canadian Tire, on board, Crawford says. LEF's executive director, Peter Frampton, is already behind the idea 100 per cent.

"BikeShare speaks to the core of transportation. Spending $2.75 twice a day for the TTC is an issue," Frampton says. "Biking is affordable. Link that to job skills that lead to a sustainable livelihood and I think that's kind of exciting."

IT'S A POLITICAL QUESTION NOW

Of course, none of this is set in stone yet. CBN is still considering the opportunity, and, whether he likes it or not, Crawford may have to wait for further approval from the city. Lucky for him, councillors such as Gord Perks (Ward 14, Parkdale-High Park) are sympathetic to his cause.

"Many recreation staff have been miracle workers in the past decade, building programs with Scotch tape and string," Perks says. "I would certainly support this if it's not interfering with competing priorities."

Perks is all too familiar with the challenges of making ends meet in the non-profit world, having worked there for 20 years before leaving for a seat at city hall. "There's a perfect storm of problems," he says, arguing that senior levels of government have been dramatically contracting funds. "There have been times when I've had to skip paycheques in each of the three organizations I've worked for."

Crawford has yet to become hardened by such trials and tribulations. "As the Mayor of York once said," quotes Crawford in an ehco of HArry Truman, "anything is possible as long as you don't care who gets the credit."

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