'Bike borrow' free program wheeling out soon in Wyandanch 

Wyandanch residents soon will have new access to two-wheeled travel — and they won’t have to pay a dime for it.

A free bicycle share initiative will launch next month in the hamlet, allowing people 18 and older who live in the community to borrow a bicycle for up to two weeks. The “Bike Borrow Program” is a collaborative effort between a community activist, a local business owner and a bicycle recycling nonprofit.

“There are a lot of people in Wyandanch who have limited transportation options so we just wanted to use this as a first step,” said Gerren Nixon, 47, a Wyandanch resident who is one of the program's leaders.

Nixon regularly organizes community events and runs Urban Arm Wrestling League, a company that aims to expand the sport among women and people of color.

Starting April 7, a dozen bicycles will be available to borrow at Spin the Yard, a Wyandanch boutique that sells clothing and other items and has an additional space that serves as a nonprofit community resource center.

Those taking out bikes will have to register and show photo identification. A QR code on the bikes will be scanned for tracking purposes, according to Nixon, who said the bikes can be used for any distance.

Spin the Yard's owner, Renita Certain, 52, said she believes the program can give a boost to people who don't have access to a car.

“I think economically, it will help people,” the business owner added.

She said besides space for the effort, she'll help provide bicycle parts.

The bicycles will be provided for free through Long Island Bicycle Cooperative, a nonprofit that rehabs and donates broken or discarded bikes.

“These are bikes that would have been trashed and we’re giving them new life,” said Tom Gernon, 40, director for the cooperative's Lake Success location. 

Using a bike is an “easy means of transportation” during a time of rising traffic, and one which doesn’t cost much to maintain and which riders have more control over, said Gernon.

This is the organization’s first “bike library” according to the nonprofit official.

“It’s going to open up a world of travel to people,” Gernon said, adding that the cooperative hopes to expand the program to other communities.

Nixon said the bikes can be used simply to get around the hamlet's downtown or to explore nearby Geiger Park, but he also hopes people cycle to a train or bus station so they can travel to work or school in other areas of Long Island.

“I wanted to open up that opportunity and have people be able to meet their transportation needs,” he said.

Nixon said if the program takes off, more bikes will be added.

Officials from the New York State Department of Transportation, Town of Babylon and Wyandanch Chamber of Commerce said they support the initiative. 

The program also will include an educational component. On March 30, the first in a series of monthly clinics on bike safety and maintenance will be held at the community resource center.

The space at Spin the Yard often is used for hands-on training classes for various trades and Certain said she hopes the new offerings will serve as a way for young people to learn more about bicycle mechanics. 

“We’ve gotten away from that in a lot of ways,” Certain said of kids learning how things work and how to fix them when they break. 

Rosemary Mascali, co-chair of the Long Island chapter of the nonprofit U.S. Green Building Council's sustainable transportation committee, said this is the first free bike share program she’s heard of on Long Island, apart from on college campuses.

“I think it’s a good idea,” she added. “There’s certainly a lot of health and environmental benefits of getting more people biking.”

By Denise M. Bonilla

denise.bonilla@newsday.comdenisebonilla

Denise Bonilla has worked at Newsday since 2003 and covers the Town of Babylon, including the villages of Lindenhurst and Amityville.