Biking to Work in Comfort and Style

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by Melinda Tuhus | May 30, 2008 12:29 pm

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Posted to: Transportation

erin%20and%20bikes.jpg Forget the free food and free T-shirts. What really got folks pumped up at Yale’s first Bike to Work breakfast Friday morning was the commuter bike giveaway.

The bikes were purchased with $5,000 from a greenhouse gas reduction grant and another $5,000 from Yale’s Office of Transportation Options. Erin Sturges-Pascal (pictured with the bikes) works for the director of the office and is also a New Haven alderwoman who’s been promoting traffic calming throughout the city.

She said the bikes went to the first dozen or so people from various departments and schools who responded. They came with fenders, collapsible back baskets, horns, and a battery-generated back light. They also came with locks.

Yale is a sprawling campus, too big to walk around any of it but the core campus, but just right for biking, for example, from the Divinity School on Prospect Street to the medical area in the Hill. Sturges-Pascale said if the pilot project is a success, her office will figure out ways to get more bikes into the hands of employees who want them – possibly by offering them at a discount, since the grant for free bikes has been exhausted.

food%20and%20bike%20rack%20sign-up.jpg The event was open to the entire community, not just Yale-related folks. As dozens of cyclists came through Phelps Gate into Old Campus, they were greeted by a table offering coffee and muffins from Claire’s, as well as bike giveaways and information from the Devil’s Gear bike shop. People were encouraged to write down locations where they’d like to see bike racks.

Sturges-Pascale said the event served multiple purposes: “that we get more people on the streets of New Haven riding bikes, which encourages more biking really – the more bikers you see, the more drivers have experience dealing with bicyclists. And it’s also an educational outlet, so we can start to spread the word about what the rules are. You know, this is sort of a captive audience for bicycle education.” Finally, if more car commuters begin cycling, that will take vehicles off the road, thus encouraging more people to ride.

dad%20and%20solomon.jpg Most of the cyclists who came are hard-core bike commuters, but some others ventured out on two wheels for the first time. Some even had young children in tow on the backs of their bikes, like Dodie McDow and his son, Solomon (pictured).

Randall Hoyt lives in the East Rock neighborhood and works from home, but he cycled in to show solidarity with other commuters. He mentioned some of the pros and cons.

“It’s exhilarating to ride with the traffic, but it’s also a bit dangerous and kind of scary at times when people do unpredictable things. I personally think we need lots of bike lanes all over the place – just a place that’s got a little bike symbol on it and I know where I’m supposed to be, because cars — they push you all around out there.”

Right after the breakfast, a cyclist sent an email to the Elm City Cycling list-serve saying that he’d been hit by a car. When he went to the hospital to be checked out, he saw another cyclist who was more badly hurt when he was hit by a car.

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