|
Green Transportation: MassDEP Puts Electric Bike into Use Around Downtown Boston
MassDEP took another step to "green" its transportation options by refurbishing this old electric bike. Staffers in the Boston office will use the bike, featuring a small electric motor, to attend meetings in the downtown Boston and Cambridge areas. Commissioner Laurie Burt checks out the bike with its first rider, Dave Biggers, of the Bureau of Waste Prevention. |
MassDEP's fleet of vehicles expanded recently, but only for those who either work in the Boston office or are spending the day at One Winter Street. And the good news is you won't need to worry about re-filling the gas tank, the windshield wiper fluid or even having a driver's license. But you will need dry road conditions and some familiarity with the rules of riding a bike downtown.
That's because this new addition is an electric bike donated to MassDEP by the utility company N-Star in 2000; until recently, it was sitting in storage. Dusted off, refurbished and tuned up by Steve White and his colleagues in MassDEP's Bureau of Waste Prevention, this foldable mountain bike is blue in color, but "green" in its deployment. It will be available for use for treks around town, mainly to get to meetings.
It also boasts a local pedigree: the manufacturer, Montague, is located in Cambridge, Mass.
On a normal 3-4 hour charge (you can plug the bike into a standard outlet) you can expect to travel about 20 miles aboard the "Monty" (as it's being called) and to reach up to speeds of 20 miles per hour. Yes, in a pinch, you can ride it just as you would an ordinary bike, but the extra weight of the battery powered motor makes pedaling the "Monty" a bit more of a workout than you might expect.
The real attraction you'll see, though, is the reception you get when taking this bike across the city (for example to the Saltonstall building, the EPA or another office, for a meeting). Dave Biggers, environmental analyst in the Bureau of Waste Prevention, took the maiden voyage recently and his departure coincided with a serendipitous meeting with MassDEP Commissioner Laurie Burt and Deputy Commissioner Lucy Edmondson.
"I was surprised by the reaction of other riders on the bike trail," Biggers said. "I thought they would adopt a more purist approach and think I was cheating or defeating the purpose of manually riding a bike, but it was all thumbs up, and as one guy in a car said to me, 'Hey, with gas prices where they are, you gotta do something.'"
Biggers offers a final word of caution: pressing the throttle and activating the 12-amp, 24-volt motor, when you're unfamiliar with it, does cause a sudden jump in acceleration. Some at MassDEP are also jumping at the chance to use this green mode of transportation downtown.
Printer-friendly version: MS Word 900 KB | PDF 160 KB
|
communicate with dep
