The Bike Coop

There are a few cities in the world where you don't come across the presence of bicycles or some type of bicycle culture. Whether it's people training or riding for sport, using their bicycle as a main mode of transportation, or simply picking up on a new hobby, cycling is an integral part of any major city. Over the past few years, the growth of the downtown ASU campus has not only brought the influx of students, but it also brought attention to the poor infrastructure for the students that ride their bicycles in downtown Phoenix. With new apartment complexes and condos being built in the Roosevelt district aimed toward student living, the city decided to add bicycle lanes around the downtown campus. But besides the addition of a few new racks and bicycle lanes, there was a r After not gaining enough financial support or support from city council members, the project lost traction. But should the city be spending its money on a bicycle co-op? I decided to ask the opinion of an expert. I decided to go to Landis Cyclery, w Landis has been serving the Phoenix bicycle community since 1912, so I spoke with manager Tim Ferguson on The co-op stuff, absolutely awesome. It does need to happen. So that people who can come in and afford a brand new bike, and we understand that not everyone can, that gives those people the ability to use a bike as viable transportation. And our government and everybody sneezes at that thought of a bicycle being a viable piece of transportation. But not only is it a piece of transportation, it's a workout that you don't really go work out. You get home here the day and you feel a little bit better. You may not realize why. There's just lots of benefits to riding a bike. Health, transportation, all that coincides. And downtown is getting to the point where it's a little bit more commuter friendly. It's a little bit more walker friendly, biking friendly. You can get to a lot more stuff a lot quicker now than you could back, say, 10, 15 years ago. I mean, if it encourages someone to cycle, it's all benefit to our air quality, to our health. There's just so many there's a lot of upside to it. Un Just south of the I-10 in the Garfield District, Derek Pacheco works day in and day out in Located in Pacheco was aware of the city's project and was critical from the start. I don't know if I'm disappointed. I don't know if that's the right word. I hate being disappointed at every single project that comes down the pipeline here in Phoenix. So I'more curious and I'more interested to see why or how it did not happen or why it would happen. The need for a downtown co-op, I don't know, is there. Maybe it is, maybe it's not. I want to see some projects with some hard research be We have too many fly-by-night ideas come and go and get sold to the city and other entities that end up fizzing out and wasting a lot of money. So instead of having a project that's just going to close down wit e. the Phoenix public market, it doesn't matter if it's funded by taxpayer dollars or private investors, sad to see a great loss We keep trying to emulate other cities but we fall short because we don'truly passionately believe in them. Cycling is the same t We could talk about cycling all day long but the lack of bicycle provisions such as bike lanes, storage lockers, shade, water fountains, hello water fountains. We have no water here. Along the light rail is awesome but if you go to cities such as Portland, Oregon, there's public drinking fountains on almost every corner downtown. Despite the difference of opinion, Tim Ferguson and Derek Pacheco have a common message. That's the part that'sorely lacking. Yes, the government is giving up a little bit more money now to do the bike lanes and the bike paths and the bike ways and we are taking advantage of that. The second part is that education process that needs to happen to get our kids back involved with what cycling is and what it really means. It's not just a kids hobby where your kid's entertaining It's viable transportation for some people and it needs to be viewed a little bit more I t