Story by Jason Moore Photos by Bridget Carroll and Dan Long-Coogan It’s a new home for cycling activists in Eugene, Oregon, and the city’s only bike repair collective. Inside this 8,000 sq. ft. former sheet-metal shop, one can find Oregon’s largest cycling newspaper, the state’s most eclectic and thought-provoking cycle shop, the base for a workbike courier service, the country’s only facility for teaching workbike design and manufacture, and one of only a handful of intermediate-scale workbike factories in North America. A non-profit community organization ties all these projects together. After years of development, the Center for Appropriate Transport (The CAT) opened its doors to the public November 20th, 1992, and hundreds attended the party. The primary emphasis of the center is cycling. Nonetheless, other alternative transportation groups are finding a home here: light-rail, car co-ops, et cetera. The hope is that anyone interested in sustainable transport will get involved with the CAT. Here they meet fellow enthusiasts and advocates. The point of putting all these cycling projects in one building is of course to make the center a catalyst for action. It’s intended as a prototype for communities that need to push alternatives to the combustion engine. As project founder Jan VanderTuin says, “we want this to serve as a practical model that can be used anywhere.” VanderTuin studied workbikes and projects like the CAT while living in Europe. He found postal workbikes in Great Britain, built trailers to haul fresh produce in Switzerland, and visited German shops where apprentices studied bicycle production and design. In Europe bicycles are recognized as the appropriate vehicle for many jobs, while in the US motorized transport is used for everything. “If you think about it, there’s a lot of overkill in our transportation system. A van will go out to deliver just one pizza, or someone will drive their car to deliver an envelope ... that is overkill.” After trying to start this project in other locales (e.g. New York City), VanderTuin was finally able to create the center in Eugene. The city has an unusually strong bicycle manufacturing infrastructure, as well as the University of Oregon: a veritable fountain of cyclists. And while the city’s bikeway system doesn’t compare to many in Europe, it is probably the best in the US. VanderTuin points out, though, that many of the city’s inhabitants have become apathetic about cycling. He hopes the CAT will sweep away the cynicism and lethargy in this old hippie town. After settling in Eugene in 1990, VanderTuin began laying the ground work for the center. He built workbikes under the name Human Powered Machines (HPM), and taught a class in Workbike Design and History in cooperation with the University of Oregon. His attractive workbikes, easily demonstrated and clearly useful, were excellent hooks on which to hang proposals for the nonprofit center. When a local business-person donated a very Some of the projects at The CAT: left, community members can repair their own bicycles on the stands of Eugene Bicycle Works, where bicycle mechanics are available to help. Center, some of the publications put out by the CAT. Auto-relief is the newsletter of the advocacy group of the same name, and Oregon Cycling is the state's premier bicycling publication. Right, Kurt Jensen of Eugene Bicycle Works points to oddities in a trike available for sale or rent. Page 54 RAIN Spring 1993 Volume XIV, Number 3
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