Teachers and school district staff in Madras are about to become Central Oregon bike-sharing pioneers.
The school district up there is launching a new bike-share program, the first of its kind around here. It’ll work like this: bikes will be housed at the high school, middle school, elementary school and a few other administrative locations and checked out by staff as needed.
For instance, if a teacher at Madras High School needs to run a quick errand over lunch, they can check out a bike to make the quick trip and skip firing up the car.
Local Bend bike guru Eric Power, owner of Bend Velo, will refurbish 10 bikes for the program. The bikes are all of the J. Livingston model, named after Bend local John Livingston, a burly dude who generally wears Carharts as he commutes religiously all over town.
Money for the program comes from an Oregon Education Association grant to the Jefferson County School District’s Wellness Program.
Other efforts to start up a bike share program are being floated around the region, but congrats to Madras and Power for making it happen.
