Portland, a city synonymous with cycling culture, is once again embracing bike sharing with the new Nike-sponsored “BikeTown” program. But for many Portlanders, the announcement conjures up memories of a very different, and much less successful, experiment: the Yellow Bike project of the 1990s. While BikeTown promises a sleek, tech-driven approach, the legacy of the yellow bike, a symbol of community and perhaps a touch of utopian idealism, still colors the conversation about two-wheeled transit in the city.
The buzz around BikeTown, with its eye-catching orange bikes and corporate backing, is undeniable. As Twitter user “TimNelsonPDX” enthusiastically put it, the partnership between Nike and Portland feels like a marriage made in heaven for cycling enthusiasts. The new program, boasting 1,000 bikes equipped with rental kiosks, smartphone apps, and anti-theft technology, is a far cry from its predecessor. But for those who remember Portland’s earlier foray into community bikes, a question lingers: haven’t we tried this before?
That question leads us back to the yellow bike project, a grassroots initiative launched in 1994. Inspired by Amsterdam’s free community bike program, Joe Keating and Tom O’Keefe, in collaboration with the Community Cycling Center, envisioned a Portland where bicycles were freely available to all. The concept was simple: rescue discarded bikes, repair them with the help of homeless and low-income youth, paint them a vibrant yellow, and release them into the city for anyone to use.
The yellow bikes were instantly recognizable, painted in a striking mustard yellow from “seats to spokes.” Small plates attached to the seats bore simple instructions: “Free community bike. Please return to a major street for others to reuse. Use at your own risk.” The honor system was central to the project. Brian Lacy, then director of the Community Cycling Center, recounted an anecdote illustrating the project’s ethos: a homeless man leaving a yellow bike outside a store only to have someone else ride off on it, with a police officer confirming, “That’s how it works.”
However, the idealistic vision of shared, freely available yellow bikes soon ran into the realities of urban life. Despite Portland’s bike-friendly reputation, the honor system proved insufficient. As The Oregonian reported, “even in bike-friendly and well-mannered Portland, adherence to the honor system proved too much to expect.” The yellow bikes faced rampant vandalism and theft. Many were taken home, never to be seen again, while others likely ended up in the Willamette River. Maintenance became an insurmountable challenge, and after just three years, the Community Cycling Center had to withdraw from the project.
Despite its short lifespan and ultimate demise, the yellow bike project left an indelible mark on Portland’s cycling landscape. The New York Times, even while noting the project’s whimsical nature, acknowledged it as a sign of Portland’s unique urban character. Joe Keating, reflecting on the project’s legacy, argues that it played a crucial role in establishing Portland as “Bike City U.S.A.” It sparked conversations, pushed the boundaries of what was possible, and ultimately contributed to the city’s bike-centric identity.
Now, decades later, Portland is embarking on a new chapter in bike sharing with BikeTown. The contrast between the bright orange, technologically advanced BikeTown bikes and the simple, yellow, community-driven bikes of the past is stark. BikeTown represents a capitalist, corporate approach, while the yellow bike project embodied a socialist, grassroots ethos. While Keating himself expresses reservations about the commercialized nature of BikeTown, preferring a system that is “as free and easy as possible,” the city is moving forward, hoping to learn from the past and build a successful, sustainable bike sharing program. Whether BikeTown will avoid the pitfalls of its yellow predecessor remains to be seen, but the memory of Portland’s yellow bike experiment serves as a valuable, if cautionary, tale in the ongoing evolution of urban cycling.
