A guest blog by Greta Cappelmann
Last March, Bike Easy was awarded a grant from the Better Bike Share Partnership, to work ensuring New Orleans’ bike share program Blue Bikes serves as an equitable transportation method for all residents. We have been working to promote the use of the bike share to locals that aren’t always immediately drawn to bike share, either due to perceived barriers, or those who experience physical barriers to accessing the bike system.
To do this, Blue Bikes and Bike Easy have hosted free group bike rides, to introduce this new mode of transportation to our community. These group rides, hosted by Bike Easy’s David Meza and Blue Bikes’ Destinie Hammond and Greta Cappelmann, include bicycle safety instruction, safe riding techniques, and an overview of the Blue Bikes. Once we get started with new Blue Bikes accounts via the Social Bicycles app, we review how to unlock and access all of the features of a Blue Bike, including tracking miles traveled and how much the ride costs. After a 5 to 10 mile community ride led by David, we hold a Q&A for participants of the group ride to clear up any unanswered questions about the bikes, and the myriad of memberships that are available.
Once the ride is over, we provide the group with a month of Blue Bikes for free, to make it easy to begin using the Bikes as an active way to get around town. If you or a community group you are involved with would like to participate in these classes, please reach out to david@bikeeasy.org and we would be happy to set up a ride! Let’s get rolling!
