Community Supplies, Fixes Bikes for Small Fee and Volunteer Hours

The university, which just introduced an eco-friendly ride-sharing program called Zimride, has another community whose mode of transportation is green. (Colin Bennett)

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UPDATED 3:59 p.m. 

Now that the snow has melted and spring has officially sprung, the Bike Village at George Mason University is gearing up for a brand new endeavor: trading bicycles with the Mason community.

Last semester, Mason Sustainability Assistant Colin Bennett and student Tyler Orton created Mason's Bike Village, a one-of-a-kind university co-op, in an effort to make bikes more accessible for students.

Bike Village is now located at the lower level of the Sandy Creek Parking Deck, where the organization supplies new, used and fixed-up bicycles to students.
Group creators Bennett and Orton scoured the area for usable bikes, which they say was no easy feat.

“[Bennett and Orton] were on Craigslist . . . they were at apartment complexes — they would get the bikes wherever they could,” said current leader of the Bike Village, Mason student Christi Kruse. “But it wasn’t a very easy system. They put a lot of effort into it and got about 40 bikes.”

Kruse has taken over organizing the Bike Village, which runs solely off of volunteer support and donations.

The idea behind Bike Village is that students can rent bikes for a semester for $15 and donating four volunteer hours in the Bike Village’s trailer.

“We’ve been having weekly work nights,” Kruse said. “What happens so far is just people that want to have work done on their bikes can come. There are a lot of people who come to volunteer who know a lot about bikes. We work together. We teach other.”

“We’ll get the bikes fixed up for anybody who wants help,” said Kruse. “But in the meantime, we’ve been working on old used bikes to be lent or sold to people.”
Throughout the semester, bike renters will be able to visit the trailer to have work and regular maintenance performed on their rented bikes.

If bikes are not maintained or lost, the Bike Village plans to charge for bikes that have gone astray.

“We’ve sold a few bikes; we haven’t rented any yet,” said Kruse. “But also, a daily rental could be cool once we get a program started.”

Most of the Mason Bike Village updates come from the group’s Facebook page; weekly meetings are set up through Facebook events as well.