The public is invited to visit an open house to introduce the Reading Bike Hub on Friday, Aug. 15, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the former Franklin Street train station at 720 Cherry St.
Organizers want to make bicycling safer and more enjoyable while building an active bike culture in the city.
The hub will offer affordable bike maintenance and repair services and training, bike recycling and refurbishing, bike safety training, and organized group rides.
“I'm pumped. I wish there was something like that when I was growing up in the city. Biking is what kept me out of a lot of trouble,” said resident and hub volunteer Jason Orth.
The hub is accepting donations of bikes, bike parts, and bike accessories. These will be refurbished and sold at cost. If people are interested in donating, please contact Jason at 610-750-6401 to coordinate.
The Reading Bike Hub will develop bike educational programming.
“I still remember the sense of freedom that I felt the first time I took my bike apart and put it all back together. This bike hub is about giving that opportunity to a new generation of kids,” added Gary Spalding, another bike enthusiast and committed bike hub supporter.
The Reading Police Department bike patrol will assist with public safety and bike education training, and AAA Reading-Berks will provide bike helmets at bike safety events and safety inspections.
This initiative grows out of the Bike Advocates of Reading team, a sub-task force of the Reading Trails Initiative coordinated through the Berks County Conservancy.
Interested Reading residents and commuters joined together to assess the bike needs inside the city. The group outlined these focus areas:
- Promote increased bike access, education, and services in Reading to all riders.
- Connect city residents to the extensive trail system, and promote trail system visitors to come into the city by improving urban bike infrastructure.
- Investigate a Reading bike-share initiative.
- Create a committee to support bike-related comprehensive plan efforts.
Biking is an essential part of community revitalization that offers many economic, social, and environmental benefits to the city. The historical economic growth of Reading depended heavily on its location as a hub in the canal and rail systems. A 21st-century Reading requires a robust multi-modal infrastructure that designs for pedestrian and bike safety, as well as for buses and automobiles. The hub’s location inside of the BARTA transit center emphasizes multi-modal transportation options as a critical component of any smart growth strategy.
“We have been pleased with the support this project has received from the different rider communities here in Reading. It has been really great to work with staff inside of BARTA and the City of Reading who hold a long-term vision for the City and helped to make the Reading Bike Hub a reality,” said Brian Kelly, executive director of ReDesign Reading.
A 2013 study lists Reading as among the top 20 bike commuter cities in the eastern United States of cities, and is the only third class in Pennsylvania on the list.
The planned completion of the Schuylkill River Greenway, for example, will create a continuous bike trail from Philadelphia to Pottsville. The Berks County Conservancy is leading this effort, helping to increase number of visitors to the region.
The Greater Reading Visitor's Bureau, in partnership with the Berks Area Mountain Bike Association, is exploring International Mountain Bike Association’s “Ride Center” designation, a potential economic development engine for the Greater Reading area.
ReDesign Reading, a community development corporation (CDC), facilitates economic and community development initiatives that promote community wealth-building in Reading. In particular, the CDC focuses on new economy initiatives that foster resiliency and sustainability in the local economy. ReDesign Reading was incorporated in February of 2014 as the culmination of a joint effort by the city and several of its municipal authorities to support the economic revitalization of the city.
For more information about the Reading Bike Hub, contact Brian Kelly at 610-451-9235 or check out our page at www.readingbikehub.org.
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