Charlottetown gets 1st bike fix-it station

Cyclists can do a quick tune-up on their bike at the city's first fix-up station in Joe Ghiz Park.

The red, stainless steelrepair stand includes a tire pump, toolsand a stand to hoist up your bike up in order to makeminor repairs. There's also a QR code you can scan with your smartphonewith videos explaining how to do basicrepairs.

"Like if you needed to repair a tire, or put a new tube in, it's got the tools for that. There's Allen keys if you want to adjust your handlebars, or make any other adjustments on your bike, as well as wrenches and screwdrivers," says Ramona Doyle, Charlottetown's sustainability officer.

The station, which Doyle said cost around $2,000,was unveiled during the Cycle Our City event held Sunday, which included a bike repair clinicattended by about 60 people. Doyle said the city will offermore of these clinics at the stand in the future.

Hope for three or four more

"We definitely wanted to support cyclists in the city. It's right on the Confederation Trail, it's downtown, it's close to the Charlottetown community, so we wanted people to have an option where they could make those small repairs on their bike for no cost," said Doyle.

Doyle hopes three or four moreof these fix-it stations canbe installed along the trail inthe city so moreneighbourhoods have easyaccess to them. She said thecity sees it as a way to encourage more people to bike.

"People that are picking cycling are keeping themselves healthy and active. They're also reducing air pollution from carbon emissions if they're driving to work everyday, so we want to see more of that in the city," said Doyle.

"And really $2,000 is a small price when it comes to making those big long-term changes in our community, that cost our taxpayers and our community health in the long run."

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