Vallocycle
rolls on
Story by heather buckner | Photographs by JON GOERING & Matthew Orton
Montevallo’s bikesharing program has big plans
T
he first citywide bike-sharing program in the state of Alabama rolled up to the University of Montevallo on Oct. 14, 2011 and hasn’t slowed down since. ValloCycle is in its second year now, and, stemming from a belief that everyone in the community deserves the freedom and benefits of personal mobility, it aims to provide dependable, low-cost transportation – while promoting a healthier lifestyle and cleaner environment. Serving locals and University of Montevallo students alike, ValloCycle offers seven-day bicycle rentals from a stockpile of about 50 bikes of various makes, models and sizes. Annual membership fees amount to roughly $25 a year for adults and $10 a year for children. Through what administrators of the program describe as an open and creative payment plan, members can opt to commit to 25 volunteer service hours instead. According to Cindy Holsombeck, administrative assistant to the mayor and city clerk, about 75 percent of members have chosen to give time instead of money by taking advantage of community service opportunities around town, such as running a Halloween fair for children or working in the organic community garden. The program currently boasts more than 30 bicycles donated by community members and refurbished by the ValloCycle team. Some of those bicycles sport names like “Sparkplug” and “Road Runner,” given to them by the local Boys and Girls Club.
Left: Montevallo Mayor Hollie Cost is a former co-chair of Vallocycle’s Board of Directors. Opposite page: John Nicholson, who designed Vallocycle’s logo, Courtney Bennett, public relations chair, Gloria Beasley, a check-out location representative for Carmichael Library and Jason Cooper, a Vallocycle supporter who also works at Carmichael Library.
36 | ShelbyLiving.com