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Saturday, May 10, 2003
Bikestation aspires to be hub of a revolution
Mark Shandrow tried to change the world once. But it ended in disappointment. After college, he joined ACORN, a group that tries to get poor communities to fight for things such as better sidewalks.
He found himself walking around one of the ghettos in Los Angeles. "I went door to door, saying I was there to help. But people kept looking at me like, 'What do you want, white kid?' "
Shandrow decided to change gears. He joined another group, called Bikestation, that's pushing a relatively simple concept: Give people a safe place to park their bicycles, a place to wash up and change for work, and more people will get out of their cars.
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 | Phil H. Webber / P-I | |
| Kurt Peterson, manager of Bikestation at 311 Third Ave. S., loads a bike onto a holding rack. It offers 70 parking stalls, rentals and repairs. | ||
It's been popular in Japan, but the idea is still foreign here. The three other Bikestations, at Long Beach, Palo Alto, and Berkeley, Calif., each attracts 1,500 to 1,800 cyclists a month.
The latest Bikestation, which will open next Friday, has racks for 70 bicycles. A steel cage will come down at night, but people with a key card still will be able to get their bikes.
Members get a free taxi ride home if they're too sick to pedal home or if their bikes break down. The station also has a repair shop to fix flat tires or to give the gears some jiggling.
Shandrow's no bike aficionado: "All I have is a dumpy little $100 bike somebody left at one of the bike stations for three months."
So the organization is joining up with Aaron Goss, owner of Aaron's Bicycle Repair in West Seattle, to actually run the station.
With close-cropped hair, beard and striking blue eyes, Goss looks a bit like G.I. Joe. "I just like fixing things," Goss said, giving the pedal on a black, heat-treated aluminum bicycle a whirl.
Apparently, he likes to fix bigger things, too. A bucket outside his store is for donated spare parts, so he can fix children's bikes for free. He decided to run the Bikestation because "cars pollute the world."
Joan Mariev happened upon the Bikestation and rides her regular touring bike on nice days, her mountain bike when it's raining.
She'd leave her bike at the station, she said. One time, she saw a woman lock up her bicycle at the downtown library. Awhile later, she saw the woman talking with police. Her bike was gone.
But even Shandrow and Goss say only time will tell whether their Bikestation really will get people out of their cars. Or if they're just spinning their wheels.
DETAILS
Bikestation
311 Third Ave. S.
Opens Friday, Bike-to-Work Day
Hours: 9 a.m.-6 p.m. weekdays, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturdays, noon-6 p.m. Sundays
Bikes will be accessible 24 hours a day to members with a key card.
Membership costs: Annual administrative fee $20, plus the purchase of a service plan.
Daily service plan -- $1 per day (and bought in increments of $10), or an annual service plan -- $96.
For more information or to register, go to: www.bikestation.org or call 206-332-9795.
P-I reporter Kery Murakami can be reached at 206-448-8131 or kerymurakami@seattlepi.com
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