The Portland State Bike Cooperative will give away free bicycle lights to riders who bring their bikes to campus on Wednesday in an event promoting bicycle safety and awareness in Portland. Representatives from both the Bicycle Transportation Alliance (a large nonprofit bicycle advocacy group) and the Community Cycling Center will be present at the event promoting the PSU Bike Co-op’s See and Be Seen campaign, which is focused on providing free and inexpensive lights to cyclists around Portland.
Bike Co-op to hand out free lights
The Portland State Bike Cooperative will give away free bicycle lights to riders who bring their bikes to campus on Wednesday in an event promoting bicycle safety and awareness in Portland.
Representatives from both the Bicycle Transportation Alliance (a large nonprofit bicycle advocacy group) and the Community Cycling Center will be present at the event promoting the PSU Bike Co-op’s See and Be Seen campaign, which is focused on providing free and inexpensive lights to cyclists around Portland.
This will be the second event of the campaign, and though it was originally scheduled for last Thursday, cold and rain prompted Bike Co-op manager Ian Stude to reschedule for a lunchtime slot this week.
“With See and Be Seen, we want to get cyclists to use lights,” Stude said. “And we want drivers to start recognizing cyclists.”
“Bicycle safety, especially the use of lights, is especially important in winter, for obvious reasons,” Stude said. “There have been some really successful programs in the past of the same vein, and that’s what we’re looking for.”
Get Lit, a program started by cyclist Jeff Bernards, was one of the programs that gave Stude the idea for See and Be Seen. Bernards received a grant to purchase bicycle lights and give them away to cyclists around the city. The Get Lit program has since been taken over by the Community Cycling Center of Portland.
“Jeff really got into it. It was great,” said Stude. “He would just stand on the corner of busy streets near dusk and call out to passing riders, ‘Hey, want a free light?'”
The inspiration that seriously prompted the creation of the See and Be Seen campaign, Stude said, came from Holland. Sam Adams, Portland city commissioner and director of the Portland Department of Transportation (PDOT), took a trip to Holland to do research on the transportation infrastructure.
“He found a lot of things that were similar to our ideas about transportation safety, with lights and such. Their transportation infrastructure is incredibly advanced, and the way they work with their cyclist population gave us some ideas,” Stude said. “It was a great inspiration for our campaign.”
Transport Options (a division of PDOT) will be providing the funding for the See and Be Seen campaign. It’s an important partner to have, according to Stude.
“The city approached us, which says something in itself,” Stude said. “Because Transport Options is a division of PDOT, it is important that we work together. And having the Bike Co-op on PSU campus is an integral part of this. PSU is a great contact point. It makes it easier to get involved.”
The event will be held between Smith Memorial Student Union and Cramer Hall this Wednesday from 11:30 a.m to 1:30 p.m. Stude and the PSU Bike Co-op will be giving away free lights to those who come with their bikes, as well as coupons for quality lights at discounted rates. The Community Cycling Center and Bicycle Transportation Alliance will both have representatives attending the event.
