Some radical kids did this in Bloomington Indiana. Painted the bikes yellow and unleashed them downtown. It was a disaster. All the bikes were stolen and destroyed in short order. 

Then they went back to the drawing board, and the Bloomington Community Bike Project was born. 

On Apr 9, 2015, at 6:53 PM, Beth Barnes <islow4bikes@gmail.com> wrote:

Thanks Thomas, I am not getting involved in this effort as there are too many unanswered questions and I have serious misgivings, just observing wishing they would ask many of the questions you have. It is northeastern Vermont on Canadian border, still a couple feet under snow.  In two years of being here from long beach ca I can count the number of folks I've seen on bikes in one hand (other than the bike club riders and some tourists)  Changing the non bike culture will take more than dumping 100 second hand bikes, just my feeling.  Really learning a lot from everyone's comments. Thanks.

On Apr 9, 2015, at 5:09 PM, Thomas Martin <thomas.martin6@pcc.edu> wrote:

Hi Beth:

I think we need more information. knowledge of Location, geography, history of town, previous AT efforts, demographics and power structures will give us a better understanding of what you and the group is up against.
While it may present an opportunity for bicycling, just dumping 100 or so bikes without infrastructure for maintenance, repair, storage, and access control will quickly be a nuisance to the community.

I'm wondering if a larger conversation can happen with the townsfolk, before bikes are dropped in downtown. Maybe couch it as a leveraging tactic: "A benefactor/donor etc. is committing to establishing a community bike program, but they need some commitment from the community". This will take some work in researching for asks, what the community has done in the past, what recreational and economic opportunities there are, identifying allies, working with critical voices, etc.

It seems that an organizer (grassroots) or planner (an enthusiastic city or county employee) could have a decent case study to develop. This point person would ideally work with interested community members, and not just be a lone voice in a city council meeting.

Tom Martin

Bike Program Coordinator

Portland Community College- Cascade

Room SC-03
705 N Killingsworth St

Portland, OR 97217

On Thu, Apr 9, 2015 at 8:38 AM, Beth Barnes <islow4bikes@gmail.com> wrote:

Could you weigh in, please. We have a small, remote rural town with no real bike/Ped infrastructure...yet. A group wants to introduce about 100 used bikes for people to use for free in an already ailing, small downtown. Free bikes? What will that do to local, struggling bike businesses? Bikes but no supporting infrastructure? Thank you for your thoughts. Makes little sense to me.
Beth




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