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Ashland event steers clear of cars Mail Tribune / Drew Fleming Michael Volimte, left, receives instruction from Dustin Elkins at The Grove youth center, where the Community Bike Program in Ashland is located. Under the program, anyone may check out a bike for a refundable $10 deposit and borrow it for three weeks. New community bicycle program gets push-off in �Car-Free Day� By John Darling The cheap, healthy and environmentally friendly bicycle becomes center stage in Ashland this week with the startup of a Community Bike Program and the celebration of the city�s annual Car-Free Day today. Under the program, anyone may check out a bike for a refundable $10 deposit and borrow it, like a library book, for three weeks. The Bike Program operates in a small repair shop at The Grove Youth Center on East Main and offers free lessons on how to repair your bike. Organizers welcome volunteers to teach bike repair. Citizens may use the space and tools and get repair lessons for $5 an hour. They may also barter volunteer repair work for bike rental. The Bike Program will be a centerpiece of Ashland�s Car-Free Day festival from 3 to 6 p.m. today in Triangle Park on Siskiyou Boulevard. A crew from the Bike Program will be there with tools to teach citizens how to make simple repairs, said volunteer director Jim Hartman, an Ashland High School science teacher. The city Bike Program welcomes "decent" donated bikes, but no "hopeless causes," said Hartman. They have 15 bikes up and ready for rental now, most of them 5- or 10-speed, older models. The shop is open from 1 to 5 p.m. Saturdays and from 1 to 4 p.m. Wednesdays and offers a repair class for kids from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Thursdays. The program also sells repaired bikes for under $50. The program has received $1,000 from Southern Oregon University�s Student Senate which allows organizers to set up a repair and teaching clinic outside the student union Mondays and Fridays during lunch hour, Hartman said. The city�s earlier "Green Bike" program provided old bikes that riders could just use and leave anywhere when done. However, the program was abandoned after vandals trashed most bikes by running over them with cars, leaving them on railroad tracks, rolling them down steep hills and tossing them in the creek, he said. The Community Bike Program helps promote awareness of a sustainable Ashland, whose residents list traffic and parking as their chief concerns, said Wheeldon. "Many countries had to pretty much ruin themselves with pollution before they recognized they had to think in sustainable terms and focus on putting back what they were reaping. I�d like to see us (America) want sustainability to happen, rather than have it forced on us." Walk, bus, cycle or scoot Southern Oregon promotes alternative transportation today with a Car-Free Day in Ashland and Quality of Life Day in Medford. Car-Free Day is organized by Ashland's Bicycle and Pedestrian Committee to promote awareness of more affordable and less-polluting alternatives, such as buses, bikes, motorized scooters and walking, said city councilwoman Carole Wheeldon, who also serves on the bike committee. A Car-Free Day festival is planned from 3 to 6 p.m. today in Triangle Park on Siskiyou Boulevard. It will include: Free rides on Rogue Valley Transportation District buses in all areas. A Community Awareness Bike Ride at 5:30 p.m. from Triangle Park to Walker Avenue to the Plaza and back to the park. A Community Walk at the same time from Triangle Park to the library and back. Free rides on an RVTD open-air trolley on Siskiyou Boulevard from Triangle Park to the Plaza, then to Walker Avenue, then back to the park during commuting hours. Free coffee and pastries to walkers and bikers from 7:30 to 9 a.m., provided by four cafes on the main drag: Brothers, Evo's, Rogue Valley Roasting Co., and Morning Glory. Area bike shops will display new non-vehicle technology, including motor scooters, safety accessories and cargo haulers. A bike trick demo by Dave Nourie at 3:30 p.m. in Triangle Park. Medford is celebrating similar sentiments with Quality of Life Day. RVTD is offering free rides, and a free "Fueling Stop" will be provided in front of City Hall on West Eighth Street between Oakdale and Holly. The stop will be open from 7 to 9 a.m. to everyone using alternative forms of transportation. Free coffee, food, drinks and giveaways will be provided. City employees will be participating in the Quality of Life Day by using alternative forms of transportation and asking others to do the same. 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