Newark Bike Project promotes sustainable, inexpensive transportation different

The Newark Bike Project works to make getting and repairing bikes simpler to encourage their use across the metropolis.

The neighborhood bike and restore store within the Newark Shopping Center is a nonprofit run by volunteers that assist promote bicycles and educate neighborhood members learn how to restore their very own bikes.

Jamie Magee helped begin the volunteer-based Newark Bike Project in 2011, getting inspiration from the Urban Bike Project in Wilmington.

“In addition to those economic factors, the other thing that helps create more infrastructure is more cycling usage…” Magee stated. “When there’s good infrastructure, more people cycle, but also as more people use those infrastructure, that’s the precedent for adding another bike path.”

Newark already has separated bike lanes with their very own visitors lights. Magee stated he hopes to see extra bike paths the place folks wish to go – whether or not that’s to run errands or exit to lunch.

The Newark Bike Project provides lessons, instructing folks learn how to work on their very own bikes. Magee added in addition they have bikes of every kind on the market at Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace charges, with between $100 and $200.

“You also get the added value of the recourse that you can bring the bike back here with any problems and we will adjust things,” Magee stated. “So any bike that was sold as a rideable bike, we’ll keep it rideable for the first couple visits until you’ve got a handle on it yourself.”

If somebody can’t afford a bicycle, the group has a type folks can fill out to get a free bike.

Parts are additionally provided at discounted charges.

“We do that in conjunction with other social service organizations, so anyone who’s working with an employment agency or any type of shelter or other social service organization, even a school nurse can write a letter of recommendation for a family if one of the parents or the kid needs a bike to get around,” Magee stated.

From there, volunteers may also help discover the correct bike and helmet for the bike owner. They additionally provide riders with a lock and flat tire restore equipment.

Magee added the group’s objectives are just like these of different neighborhood bike outlets.

“We’re trying to empower cyclists and would-be cyclists to use bicycles as a sustainable form of transportation that is also economical and accessible for them,” Magee stated. “And sometimes that includes not just giving them a bike or helping them fix up their bike, but teaching them how to maintain it so they can rely on it.”

The venture’s academic packages don’t make the store cash. Magee stated typically, they lose cash, however they’re a part of the mission.