Nickel City Graphics Presents: Whatever Happened to Blue Bikes? (Answer: Green Options)

Green Options Buffalo is now contributing a monthly feature in The Good Neighborhood, presented by Nickel City Graphics. This kickoff column first hit in GrowWNY. 

By Henry Raess, Community Outreach Coordinator, Green Options Buffalo

When I tell people that I’m heading to the community bike shop, they often ask, “Which one, Blue Bikes?” And when I tell people that I work for a nonprofit that focuses largely on bicycling, they say something like, “Oh yeah, Blue Bikes.”

Sometimes I smile and nod or continue the conversation, but often I point out, “Well…sort of. It’s actually Green Options Buffalo.” This is often met with a confused look or blank stare.

I am here to set the record straight: Buffalo Blue Bicycles no longer exists. Green Options Buffalo (GO Buffalo) is a larger, more comprehensive organization that developed out of Blue Bicycles and continues bicycle programs and advocacy today.

It all started in 2001, when Justin Booth, current executive director of Green Options Buffalo, started a Recycle-a-Bicycle program in Buffalo. Modeled after programs of the same name operating in New York City, the project teaches children how to operate, fix and maintain bicycles. In many cases the kids are able to keep the bike they were working on when they complete the course. Recycle-a-Bicycle currently operates through GO Buffalo in some schools and community centers as an after-school program.

In 2004, the Community Bicycle Workshop opened at 98 Colvin Avenue in North Buffalo, where it is still located today. It is in the old Buffalo Police Precinct 17 building and houses a bicycle workshop, spare parts, refurbished bicycles for sale and lots of donated bicycles. Green Options volunteers and members are able to help around the shop, learn about fixing and maintaining bikes and work on their own bicycles. The shop has had fairly consistent hours over the years, opening to volunteers, members and interested community members on Sunday afternoons, Tuesday and Thursday evenings, as well as regularly hosting special workshops.

Buffalo Blue Bicycles was launched in 2006. Inspired by bicycle sharing systems in other cities, such as the Community Bicycle Network of “yellow bikes” in Toronto, Canada, Buffalo “Blue Bikes” was a community bicycle sharing system where users could go online, reserve a bike for a day or two, pick it up at one of several hubs located around the city and return it. The system worked quite well for a while: in 2008, Buffalo Blue Bicycle had a fleet of nearly 60 bicycles, utilized by 171 members, for a total of 964 trips.

In 2008, Blue Bikes started a discussion with the City of Buffalo about bicycle infrastructure, such as bicycle lanes in city streets. Updated bicycle parking became reality as installation began of the recognizable blue bicycle racks with the signature logo. Around that time, Justin Booth and those involved with Blue Bikes recognized a need for more education, bicycle advocacy, and public policy—which was more than Buffalo Blue Bicycles was capable of providing.

Over the course of several months and several potluck dinners, a group of people involved in the organization came up with the idea for an umbrella organization to take on a variety of new projects, deciding on the name Green Options Buffalo.

At that point, GO Buffalo expanded on previous operations, taking on the development of local, regional and statewide initiatives such as Complete Streets and Safe Routes to School. Blue Bikes became just one part of the larger organization.

From 2001 until 2010, GO Buffalo was run as part of the Wellness Institute, located in Buffalo City Hall. With the generous support of Dr. Michael Cropp, the president and CEO of Independent Health, Green Options Buffalo was provided funding for staff, the establishment of an official 501©3 not-for-profit corporation, and office space. Green Options Buffalo now has an office in the Innovation Center on the Buffalo-Niagara Medical Campus.

As with many of the bicycle sharing programs in the U.S. and around the world, Blue Bikes was not without its challenges. In some areas, bikes were vandalized or stolen. Many of the bikes that were used the most and required the most maintenance were in places that were a bit far from the bike shop to effectively maintain, like University at Buffalo’s north campus. The biggest obstacle, however, was the lack of participation. Before one could use a bicycle, one first had to get to a bicycle hub. James May raised this issue in the London Telegraph little more than a year ago – “the bicycle, this ultimate symbol of mobility and freedom for the masses, effectively becomes public transport: it doesn’t leave from precisely where you are and doesn’t arrive at exactly where you want to be.”

Currently there are systems in development that would address this challenge by focusing on individual “smart bikes” and not on bicycle hubs (we’ll talk more about this in another article).

In spring 2011, at the ripe young age of five, Buffalo Blue Bicycle was retired, and its successor, Green Options Buffalo, continues on with around a dozen other projects.

So when someone asks about Blue Bikes, or if you’re heading to the Blue Bikes community workshop, you can say, “Actually…” and, well, now you know the rest.