September 2024 SPOTLIGHT

Car Free Day LI is September 22!  Have you pledged?

For the 12th year in a row, Long Island is joining over 3,100 cities in 50 countries around the world in celebrating Car Free Day and LI Mobility Week from September 16-22, 2024. During this week, people are encouraged to swap out just one car trip and instead ride a train, telecommute, walk, bike, take the bus, carpool, or simply drive less. Help us beat last years record of Long Islanders pledging to be car-free or car-lite, saving 92 tons of CO2 emissions.

Those who pledge will be eligible to win great prizes including Giant Escape 3 and Liv Alight 3 bikes, each valued at $530 donated by Brands Cycle & Fitness and all access train passes! Make sure to include your employer, school, library or non-profit to earn bragging rights.

Take the pledge here!

Long Island villages, towns, cities and counties and other organizations are invited to showcase their commitment to clean and sustainable transportation options by hosting and/or participating in the various events being held across Long Island.

Long Island Mobility Week is the perfect opportunity to test out new forms of clean and shared mobility, take stock of current transportation challenges and help our environment by making progress toward more sustainable transportation for all of Long Island.

See details of all the planned events during Long Island Mobility Week, at longislandmobilityweek.org

A free bicycle share initiative launched in the Long Island  hamlets of Wyandanch and Lawrence, allowing people 18 and older who live in these communities to borrow a bicycle for up to two weeks.  The “Bike Borrow Program” is a collaborative effort  among bicycle recycling nonprofit Long Island Bicycle Co-op, local community stakeholders, and the NYS DOT Statewide Mobility Services Program.  .  

“There are a lot of people in Wyandanch who have limited transportation options,” said Gerren Nixon, a Wyandanch resident who is one of the leaders of the Wyandanch program.  A dozen bicycles are available to borrow at Spin the Yard, a Wyandanch boutique that has an additional space that serves as a nonprofit community resource center. 

Those taking out bikes register and show photo identification.  A QR code on the bikes is scanned for tracking purposes and the bikes can be used for any distance.

Spin the Yard’s owner, Renita Certain believes the program can give a boost to people who don’t have access to a car.  Besides space for the effort, she is helping to provide bicycle parts. 

The bicycles were provided for free by the 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, director for the cooperative’s Lake Success location.   This was the organization’s first “bike library” and they hope to expand the program to other communities. 

The Wyandanch program also has an educational component.  Monthly clinics on bike safety and maintenance will be held at the community resource center providing a way for young people to learn more about bicycle mechanics. 

A second “Bike Borrow Program” location launched this month in Lawrence at the Peninsula 

Public Library.  Four bikes have been donated by the Long Island Bike Coop to support this effort.

Five Town's adults without a bicycle can reserve a bike for a day or an extended period.  Patrons must be 18-years-old, have a library card and sign a waiver.   "The bike borrow program will be part of a library of reuseable things we're starting in July," said Library Director Carolynn Matulewicz.  

For information about this program or for help in starting a “Bike Borrow Program” in your community, contact NYS DOT Statewide Mobility Services Program representative Emma Balsam at emma.balsam@icf.com.