Free Cycles and MIST Property and Programs Vision: A Summary, 2024
Diagram of the two acre property on S. 1st St. W that Free Cycles and MIST purchased in 2016. Space in orange are occupied by our current programs: primarily Build-A-Bike, Open Shop, BikeWell, Youth Cycles, and C.I.V.I.C. Cycles. Spaces in blue are currently filled by tenants. When funding becomes available, these spaces will transition to more community programs.
Introduction Free Cycles (est. 1996) was founded to reduce congestion and air pollution by providing community access to recycled and repurposed bicycles. Long term, the goal was to elevate community awareness about bicycling as a legitimate mode of transportation. By creating a better cycling atmosphere in the city, the result would be more facilities and thus more people bicycling for everyday transportation. The project aimed to perpetuate a positive feedback loop to create and release demand for biking.
MIST (Missoula Institute for Sustainable Transportation, est. 1997) formed as the umbrella for Free Cycles and to link bicycling with walking and public transit, as a system of community movement. The scope has broadened to address all forms of transportation, while also connecting with food, housing and energy systems, as well as other aspects of a sustainable, healthy and thriving community.
Our Mission The mission of MIST is to create a system of movement that is safe, equitable and environmentally sound. Free Cycles provides bikes, parts, and help for a healthy community. An overarching goal is to increase access and usage of walking, bicycling and public transit while increasing public involvement. More recently, the following values have emerged, especially in relation to the Free Cycles community bicycle shop: active transportation, reuse and recycle, environmental stewardship and civic participation.
A Vision Communities with active walking and cycling cultures; Excellent transit systems that run on clean energy; Bicycle station and car share options; Safe and fluid vehicle movement; Networks of greenway corridors that connect people and open space; A local and global awareness of transportation issues and impacts.
Some Results (1996 to 2022)
Free Cycles: 250,000 visits to Open Shop, 22,000 free bicycles earned and built, 6,500 attending BikeWell class, 800 tons of material diverted from scrap, 200 outreach events in the community, 300 onsite community gatherings
MIST: Catalyst for complete streets, safer intersections, and permeable pavements; on-going sustainable transportation presentations to civic groups; citizen representation for the Long Range Transportation Plan, the Active Transportation Plan, and the Missoula Growth Policy. Click here to go to the MIST website.
Property Campaign Free Cycles and MIST purchased property in 2016 by raising $200,000 in donations and securing a private loan for 1 million dollars. This capital campaign included bikathons, concerts, community potlucks and thousands of contributions from the citizens of Missoula. The organization, through a contract for deed, is the owner of two acres of land and 28,000 square feet of associated buildings in the heart of Missoula.
Located in the lovely Riverfront neighborhood at the union of two primary trails, the property is an ideal place to continue the work of healthy transportation and community development. Organizational ownership honors Missoula’s heritage- beautiful wood framed buildings saved from demolition- and creates pathways to a livable future.
Property Details: Built in the 1940’s by the Hightower family, the structures have served many purposes over the decades, primarily focused on the steel business. Free Cycles currently occupies half the space for programs while tenants rent the other half.
The buildings that occupy 732 S. 1st W. are sturdy, consisting of large diameter timber framing, solid wood floors and walls, metal siding, and a combination of metal and rubber roofing. These buildings should last for many more decades.
Transportation to and from the property is mostly accessible. Walk and bike trails run adjacent, bus stops are three blocks away, complete streets in the area are improving, a rail spur is twenty feet to the west, Interstate-90 access is one mile north, and intercity bus service is available two miles away. While passenger rail serving Missoula ceased in 1979, a goal of MIST is to help restore this service, which could eventually serve the property.
Geographically, the property is in the center of Missoula. This is convenient to citizens and also improves the possibility of establishing a network of neighborhood-based, community bicycle shops throughout the Missoula valley.
Property Opportunity: Free Cycles and MIST, as an owner and steward of a two acre property, are focused on property improvements, strengthening core program and growing new programs. Property improvements are based on these four goals: carbon neutral, zero fossil fuels, off the grid, and local, organic and healthy materials.
Strengthening Core Programs
Open Shop: Ten public work stations are available to the public. Much of the year, the stations are full, with people learning and fixing bikes, forty hours a week. Staff, volunteers, interns and shop users all work together. At ‘Open Shop’ the bicycle is a medium to raise the collective community spirit, realize self-worth. protect the environment and create human powered transportation.
Build a Bike: After completing a BikeWell class and 1.5 hours of service, participants can build a free bike. This includes parts and help to make the bike safe and enjoyable.
BikeWell: This class imparts safety, laws, shop expectations, maintenance tips and a StreetWell section on city design. Dedicated classrooms and workshop spaces are needed, including hands-on bike building demonstrations and street modeling.
Programs in the Works
Pedal Tech: Free Cycles has produced a diversity of 3-wheelers, 4-wheelers, recumbents, trailers, parking racks, cargo bikes and adaptive cycles, all aimed at furthering the effectiveness and reach of pedal power. Unrepairable bicycles becomes the raw material for new creations.
Transportation Learning Center: A focus on bicycles, sustainable transportation and city design. Interns, students, and the community learn skills for change. The need: classrooms, larger learning spaces, demonstration models, a library and gallery. Part of this learning center will include ‘Transportation Tracks’, a comprehensive research and monitoring program- growing off of past and current efforts. Measures include air, water and soil quality, impervious surface coverage, crash rates, and more. This is one of the most exciting aspect of gaining the property and fits with the theme of learning and exploration, inquiry and solution, engagement and resolution.
Community Bike Share: Free Cycles has provided thousands of loaner bikes, searching for the most effective and accountable methods for meeting the community’s needs in borrowing a short-term bicycle. The answer is likely somewhere between the original free-roaming green bicycles placed on street corners by Free Cycles in 1996-1999, and the now commonplace high-tech checkout rental systems in many major cities around the world.
Programs on the Horizon Broadly under an umbrella of “Community Care”, gaining the property on S. 1st St. now allows many aspirations to come to fruition as capacity and need allows. Such as:
Bike Inn or Hostel - Visitors touring on bicycle have limited options in finding a place to sleep. Our current structures plus new sustainable dwellings may meet this need.
Bike Cafe and General Store- Food and provisions are the fuels for walking and biking and brings people together for social gathering. Neighborhood scale development is also critical for fostering a more walkable and bikeable community.
City Design Center- Looking at the community as a whole- transportation, food, shelter, energy- and growing relationships for all components. This is an aspect of the Transportation Learning Center.
Pavement Testing Ground- MIST has helped the City of Missoula and Glacier National Park implement sustainable paving projects. Examples include clay pavers, pine resin, decomposed granite and psyllium. A variety of methods are being tested on the property while providing immediate practical benefit. The focus is streets, trails, plazas and parks.
Food Forest- The goal is to grow food on-site with a dynamic permaculture-based method of interspersed vegetables, fruits, trees, green spaces and wildlife habitat. The Food Forest will intertwine with a kid play area, a bike park, traffic garden and bike riding space.
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Expected Results of Broad Program Development Missoula, pop. 100,000, in the heart of the Rocky Mountains, is an ideal city for systemic change. By growing the property and programs, we aim to:
Driving miles decreased by 50%. Current VMT (Vehicles Miles Traveled) totals an astounding 2 million miles per day in the Missoula Valley. Surveys indicate half this traffic can voluntarily shift- if alternatives are safe, accessible and enjoyable.
Injury crashes decrease by 75%. In 2022, 600 people were injured in local traffic crashes (160 severely injured). A change in infrastructure, policy and attitude can reverse this trend.
Pollution decreased by 80%. This can be accomplished by reduced driving, using alternative fuels, more efficient driving systems, permeable/sustainable paving and other methods.
Human powered mobility access at 100%. Achieved by facilitating adaptive cycles to those with mobility challenges, providing bike share for short term needs and continuing to grow the community bicycle shop.
Meeting needs of active transportation citizens. Places to sleep, eat, socialize and work together that cater to people biking, walking and using public transit will help meet basic needs.
Conclusion
Community plays a vital role in a changing world. Missoula, Montana can be a leader in sustainable, healthy development. Free Cycles and MIST are poised for growth. Please contact us to learn more, give feedback or to get involved. Thank you.
Contact: Bob Giordano, Executive Director, mist@strans.org, 406.830.7676