Free Bicycle Program Gets a Make-Over

The bikes in Ojai’s free Yellow Bike program are no longer yellow and are tough to find, but the program’s wheels haven’t fallen off completely, its founders say.

“It’s not dead, it’s different,” said Dale Hanson, co-founder of the Ojai Bicycle Coalition. But “it’s for sure the program has slowed down.”

In truth, the program, which consists of scattering bicycles around town for the free use of residents and tourists, had difficulty getting rolling after it was founded on Independence Day last year.

Bikes were hard to find from the outset. People rode them off into remote areas and abandoned them. Others were stolen, although organizers pointed out it was difficult to steal a free bike.

At the beginning of the year, the program slowed even further.

Bicycles were no longer painted yellow because the paint rubbed off onto people’s clothes. A dearth of bike racks meant bicycles were being leaned against walls rather than in a central area. The few volunteers could not keep pace with the bicycles that needed to be repaired and placed on the street.

“It got to be ridiculous,” Hanson said.

But bikes are still being donated and given away to needy people. More bikes will be put out for the public’s use once the promised racks materialize and a city bicycle master plan and new bike path through Libbey Park are completed.

“We knew this program was not going to be an easy one,” Hanson said. “We have a lot of things to do to make this a bike-friendly town.”