Adaptive BIKETOWN is a great start for making cycling more accessible to disabled people – Cassie Wilson, Community Engagement Assistant at The Street Trust.

As a disabled person, I’d never gotten to ride a bike as an adult until I found one that works for me at Adaptive BIKETOWN.

During the 2022 Oregon Active Transportation Summit I connected with Roshin Kurian from the Portland Bureau of Transportation, who manages Adaptive BIKETOWN, BIKETOWN for All, and the Transportation Wallet. Roshin encouraged me to check out Adaptive BIKETOWN and see if one of the bikes they have would meet my needs.

Shop manager Kristin Miller helped me try out several different adaptive cycles. I have a form of dwarfism which resulted in mobility related disabilities. Despite not being able to walk long distances, my legs work fine, so I hoped to find a foot-powered trike of some kind that could work for me. Unfortunately none of the current adaptive foot-powered cycles available were a match for my short and disproportionate skeleton. Instead, I found a small adaptive handcycle and took it for a spin!

Adaptive BIKETOWN is located just to the west of OMSI’s north parking lot along the Eastbank Esplanade. It’s a great location for anyone trying out cycling for the first time since you don’t have to ride alongside car traffic. That being said, I did get to ride on the road in a bike lane very briefly between the Eastbank Esplanade and the Springwater Trail, which was a new and exciting experience!

Overall, the handcycle worked great for me. Going up inclines proved difficult as the handcycle required me to use muscles that don’t get worked much, but I was lucky to have a friend (because riding bikes with friends is fun!) who could push me up tough inclines.

I ended up riding about 5 miles, which was the farthest I’ve ever manually moved my body in my whole life(!) and I had a blast doing it. I’m excited that I now have way to ride bikes with my friends, and look forward to enjoying it even more when it’s a bit cooler outside.

Adaptive BIKETOWN is a great start for making cycling more accessible to disabled people. I hope to see their fleet expand to include more variation in electric assist adaptive cycles (to make hills less daunting). I also hope to see more bikes tailored for specific types of disabilities such as those recently released by UK bike company Islabikes for people with disproportionate dwarfism.

Adaptive BIKETOWN is a great way to try out a bunch of different adaptive cycles in one place to find one that works for you before going out and buying your own.

Learn more about Adaptive BIKETOWN on their website or join us Saturday, August 13, 2022 at 10am for our Harry Styles themed adaptive bike ride! RSVP to the event or sign up to volunteer.

 

The Street Trust and BIKETOWN have just announced a creative partnership to bring BIKETOWN for All to BIPOC and underserved communities across the City of Portland.  The program will include community education, group rides led by compensated ride ambassadors, and engaging partners across the city. 

The Street Trust has worked with BIKETOWN for years to encourage Portlanders to embrace this healthy, low-carbon and fun mode of transportation. But this Summer we are taking our partnership with with Lyft and BIKETOWN to the next level to advance transportation justice.

BIKETOWN offers reliable, affordable, car-free mobility for Portland residents with lower incomes through its BIKETOWN For All program. Bike sharing supports cleaner air in frontline communities by reducing the number of cars on the road. To further advance the bike sharing’s positive impact on our priority communities, 

Partnerships power our advocacy efforts at The Street Trust. We work with everyone to achieve our vision and together we are dedicated to winning safe, clean, accessible transportation of the future. 

Thank you to Taylor Griggs of BikePortland for this great coverage of our launch party and happy 6th Birthday BIKETOWN!


Want to to be considered for one of this year’s BIKETOWN Community Ambassadors? Please complete this brief intake form and someone from our team will follow-up with you.

Think a strategic partnership between your company and The Street Trust could further our shared goals for better transportation? Schedule a conversation with Strategic Partnerships Manager Anouksha Gardner .


 

Nothing Beats a Heat Island Like a Cool River Swim

This weekend, in partnership with BIKETOWN and TriMet, The Street Trust led its friends and members on a guided bike and transit ride from the Lents town center to The Big Float in Tom McCall Waterfront Park.

Lents was the deadliest heat island during last summer’s heat dome disaster and the dangerous conditions persisted during this year’s record-breaking heat waveThe Street Trust understands that our climate crisis affects frontline and low-income communites disproportionately. We also know that an estimated 30% of Oregonians don’t drive. That’s why, we chose to support Lents’ residents with affordable, safe options to access the cool waters of the Willamette River without having to drive. 

While most participants rode their own bikes or used Biketown to take advantage of the beautiful sunny day, The Street Trust also distributed transit passes to anyone who didn’t feel comfortable cycling. Despite being known as a multimodal leader, many Portlanders feel uncomfortable cycling and/or accessing public transportation. Our focus on providing multiple mobility options to The Big Float is indicative of our efforts to be more inclusive while also promoting a critical mobility service. 

This multimodal event was the first of its kind for The Street Trust, and based on initial feedback we hope to continue offering transit tickets, BIKETOWN access, and mobility guides for future events.

“Heat Island to River Relief” bike ride participants met their guides at 10AM at the Lents Town Center, where the local farmer’s market takes place. Several passersby approached The Street Trust to ask us what we were up to (probably something to do the giant pile of lifejackets strapped to a bike trailer). These encounters demonstrated to us that there is interest in BIKETOWN and bike events in the Lents neighborhood, which is also home to many of our priority communities. 

OUtdoor fun - Andre in a Doughnut Float, Madi looking sleek in Black logo tee and pants

Some participants took TriMet’s #14 bus, which has frequent service and stops directly in front of Lents Town Center. The bus dropped us off only a few blocks away from the Tom McCall Waterfront Park, making the journey very convenient while also offering a refuge from the heat. Taking in that stellar view of the Willamette as the bus crossed the Hawthorne bridge was also a reminder of how lucky this city is to have such an incredible public resource… and how important it is to ensure that everyone feels like they can access it. The journey also allowed us to connect with each other and talk about the impression that folks had about Portland’s transit system. 

Overall, the Heat Island to River Relief was yet another successful community-oriented summer event from The Street Trust. Not only did it serve the important mission of reminding participants of the seriousness of the heat island effect and the different ways you can access one of the most important cooling amenities in the city; it also brought together the TST community for a little fun in the sun. And it doesn’t get any better than that. 

Thanks for being so welcoming to The Street Trust, Lents neighbors — we look forward to partnering and enjoying future events with you! Check out more pictures in BikePortland.

Want to volunteer for our next multimodal event? Sign up!

Pedestrian enjoying Eastbank Esplanade in Portland B&W

 

Standing United Against Violence and Hate in Our Streets 

A visiting Asian family was attacked while cycling along the Eastbank Esplanade in Portland earlier this week. We understand that this attack was racially motivated and led to physical and verbal abuse of both the father and child. 

The attacker has been charged with a bias (aka hate) crime which has led us to do more research on what exactly triggers that classification. 

Under Oregon law, a bias crime — or hate crime — is defined as a crime in which a person “intentionally, knowingly or recklessly causes physical injury to another person because of the person’s perception of the other person’s race, color, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability or national origin.”

While the event is tragic, we were happy to hear that the family was not seriously injured and that upon seeing the confrontation multiple community members stepped up to deter the attacker which led to his arrest shortly after the attack. 

Creating safe streets for all is central to the work of our organization. Still, this event reminds us that the barriers to safe transportation are more than the built environment and speeding cars. It reminds us that bias, discrimination, and systemic oppression are all alive and well, and that the hateful people in our region are willing to lash out at any moment to reinforce this reality. 

The Street Trust stands in solidarity with the AAPI community. We will use our platform and influence to continue educating our members and partners about the explicit and implicit biases rooted in our culture and we will continue to elevate and celebrate the diverse voices of AAPI-identifying communities throughout our region. 

We’d also like to thank the Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon (APANO) for their continued work and leadership in the AAPI community. The Street Trust shares APANO’s vision of a just world where Asians and Pacific Islanders and communities have the power, resources, and voice to determine our own futures,  and where we can work in solidarity to drive political, social, economic, and cultural change. You can support APANO by donating here.

We recognize that we have a long way to go until we reach a place where communities no longer have to fear being targeted in the streets because of their identity but we’re confident that we can achieve this vision by working together as a caring and supportive community.

 

Racially motivated hate crimes are a challenging topic so we’ve included some resources for those of you who are interested in learning more:

https://www.aapihatecrimes.org/facts

https://www.justice.gov/hatecrimes/learn-about-hate-crimes

 

Happy Disability Pride Month!

Although it’s not recognized federally, the disabled community recognizes July as Disability Pride Month in honor of July 26th being the anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. 

At The Street Trust, we champion safe, accessible, equitable, and low-carbon streets. We also acknowledge that transportation justice and disability justice go hand in hand. Whether something is accessible or not means different things depending on the context, but it should always include access for disabled people because we overlap with all other groups. 

The Street Trust’s Community Engagement Assistant Cassie Wilson and Yamhill County Commissioner Casey Kulla during the Oregon Active Transportation Summit.

As someone with a mobility disability, accessibility to me means having the freedom to move through life with as much ease as someone who is not disabled. This includes anything from accessing housing, school, and work (in-person or online), to navigating our communities. Accessibility also emphasizes how mobility devices are freedom and independence for many disabled people, making it easier for us to move our bodies, as opposed to being ‘confined’ to them as is often how they’re described.

Something feels accessible to me when I don’t have to think much about it or go through extra steps to get my needs met. It removes the added labor of figuring out how to navigate life in a way that works for me. For that reason, it’s a lot easier to notice when things are not accessible such as buildings with one step to get inside or crosswalks without accessible (or any) curb cuts.

Speaking of curb cuts, everyone benefits from accessibility! The ‘curb cut effect’ demonstrates how increasing accessibility for disabled people accessing sidewalks by adding curb cuts also improves conditions for people pushing strollers, bicycles, skates, carts, etc.

As a disabled person living in a rural area without public transit, I am forced to drive. Driving is already expensive, and the cost only increases when you factor in accessible vehicle upgrades and added insurance for those features. When I was reliant on Supplemental Security Income (SSI), transportation accounted for over half of my below-poverty-level income. Increasing access to public transit, bike lanes, and sidewalks state wide would hugely benefit people who can’t drive due to disabilities, and it would also benefit the estimated 1 in 3 Oregonians who can’t or don’t drive as well as those who would choose not to if given feasible alternatives.

 

      – Cassie Wilson, Community Engagement Assistant @ The Street Trust

 

Celebrate Disability Pride Month with The Street Trust at our Pedalpalooza ride at 4:00pm on July 28th which starts and ends at Adaptive Biketown. 

 

RSVP To TST’s Pedalpalooza Event!

Pre-member meeting bike ride

 

Last month, The Street Trust held its June Member Meeting at BG’s Food Cartel food cart pod in Beaverton. 

The Street Trust members, board members, staff, Washington County elected officials, and Washington County community leaders came together to discuss our work and theirs, and find ways we can collaborate and support one another.

To emphasize our dedication to the entire region, The Street Trust has held our first

June Member Meetup at BG's Food Cartel

 two in-person member meetings in Milwaukie (May) and Beaverton (June). We’re actively recruiting to increase our membership in these communities, which have a big role to play in the future of our region. Through this outreach, we have found that these diverse communities also have an intense need for active transportation and transit organizing- and we are eager to support them. We’re particularly interested in organizing along corridors of concern, such as with our recent Farmington Road Study Tour.

We kicked off our June member meeting with a group bike ride that started at the Beaverton Transit Center. During this ride we experienced what Beaverton has to offer in terms of bike trails, multi-use paths, quiet greenways, bike lanes, sharrows, highway sidewalks, and highway-side railroad gravel. Beaverton Mayor Lacey Beaty generously shared details about the many City transportation projects and other community issues as we biked through Beaverton for a wonderfully in-depth look at the city.

We’re so grateful for everyone who could make it out! If you’re not a member yet, join us, July’s member meeting details will be announced soon–like our previous two meetings, it will be easy to access by walking, rolling, and transit. Save the date of Monday, July 18th from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Become a member!

The Street Trust June Member Meeting participants at BG Food Cartel

Metro Councilor Juan Carlos González, Julian Dunn, The Street Trust Community Engagement Manager Madi Carlson, Nic Cota, Shawne Martinez, Councilor-Elect John Dugger, Beaverton Mayor Lacey Beaty, State Representative Dacia Grayber, Eric Wilhelm, State Representative WLnsvey Campos, Councilor-Elect Kevin Teater, The Street Trust Board Member Dave Roth, The Street Trust Strategic Partnerships Manager Anouksha Gardner.

Two people pedal an adaptive quadricycle past The Street Trust's booth

 

We at The Street Trust love activating public spaces, like we did for last year’s Alice Awards. While there are a lot of parks and squares in Portland, the city’s largest public space is its streets, and there’s no more rewarding way to experience them than through Sunday Parkways.

After a two-year hiatus, Sunday Parkways returned with a splash on June 26th for Northeast Cully Sunday Parkways. The Street Trust staffed an intersection along the course to cheer on walkers and rollers, distribute snacks, bike lights, and temporary tattoos- all while preventing unnecessary car traffic in the event.

We stationed ourselves near our friends at Adaptive Biketown and Biketown, so we could easily send people down the block for test rides. (Side note: we’re hosting a Harry Styles themed Pedalpalooza bike ride with Adaptive Biketown on July 28th–RSVP here!)

With temperatures in the 90’s we weren’t sure what to expect, but our region’s love for open street events was reflected by the tons of people who came out. Everyone stayed hydrated thanks to water refill stations along the entire course (some volunteers even carried water dispensers on bike trailers!). Our booth canopy provided ample shade that walkers and rollers could use to rest from the heat for a spell, while joining us for snacks and refreshments too.

Being part of an open streets event is tremendously fun. We engaged with hundreds of event participants thanks to the help of our wonderful volunteers, and our staff members on duty engaged residents who needed help safely driving around the event. These events give us a glimpse of what a car free city could feel like, but more importantly, they show us that people enjoy walking and rolling around town.

We’d love to have you join us for an upcoming open streets event, Carefree Sunday in Milwaukie on Sunday, August 7th. Sign up to volunteer with us at Carefree Sunday, or if that date doesn’t work for you and you’re not yet on our volunteer mailing list, add your name now.