The UBC Bike Co-op is doing a lot more than just spinning its wheels.
The Bike Hub is UBC’s new bicycle resources centre and the latest addition
to the co-op’s campus cycling services.
Located in 81 square metres in a portable behind the MacMillan Building, the
centre features public shop space, a training facility, lock grinding services
and a work area to reconstruct bikes for the co-op’s fleet of purple and yellow
bikes.
“I never expected the program to be successful in so many ways,” says Ted
Buehler, president of the co-op and a PhD student in the School of Community
and Regional Planning. The new space — donated by Agricultural Sciences Dean
Moura Quayle — has boosted the co-op’s ability to serve UBC bike users, he
says.
Current projects at the Hub — which has two full-time employees — include
developing a UBC cycling map to be distributed to students in residence and
designing a campus greenway for walkers and cyclists.
Also proposed is a day-care centre where commuters can drop off their bikes
for secure storage, stash their gear, shower and change for work or classes.
Other services offered by the co-op, an AMS club with 200 members, include
the Bike Kitchen — a bike repair shop open to the campus community and the
public — and a fleet of 120 purple and yellow bikes that co-op members can
use to travel across campus.
The co-op has also launched Bike Repair 101, a program offering both one-hour
bike care clinics and one-day bike mechanic certification courses. The UBC TREK
office, which supports sustainable transportation alternatives on campus, sponsors
the program.
The Bike Hub is located at 6357 Agronomy Rd. and is open Monday to Friday
from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. For more information on becoming a co-op member or volunteer
call 604-822-BIKE or visit the Web site at www.ams.ubc.ca/clubs/bikecoop/.
