During last year's Democratic presidential primaries, Andrew Yang floated the idea of a Universal Basic Income. He's not the first public figure to advocate it: Jeremy Corbyn in the UK has voiced support. So have Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk--who, perhaps, ironically share another trait with Yang: they are tech billionaires. (I just hope they don't, like Yang, develop any political aspirations!) And, perhaps most famously, a referendum on Universal Basic Income was put up for vote in Switzerland five years ago. It lost, but the idea is still discussed there, and elsewhere.
Since I never, ever espouse political positions (no, really!) on this blog, I won't say any more about the idea. I will say, however, if I were a President or Queen or Governor or some other high-level legislator or ruler, I'd decree that anyone who wants or needs a bicycle will have one. Mind you, it wouldn't necessarily be a Specialized S-Works machine or bespoke handcrafted lugged steel beauty: a bike to get someone from point A to point B reliably, safely and with some style.
Just to prove that great minds think alike (no, really!) Elliot Rappleye and Jon Butler are doing what I propose. They have created Lyfe Cycles, a Grand Haven, Michigan-based nonprofit organization dedicated to fixing up old bikes and giving them to people who can't afford them.
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| Lyfe Cycles founders Elliot Rappleye (with bike) and Jon Butler |
The impetus came from Rappleye's experience in a Holland, Michigan sober-living house. He noticed "a lot of people not having transportation" to go wherever they needed, and wanted, to go.
As it happened, there was a pile of rundown bikes at the house. Rappleye fixed one, then another. One resident rolled one out the door, then another. Restoring the bikes soon became his project. "They called me the bike guy," he said.
Last fall, Butler called on him to fix a bike. They got to talking, and the idea for Lyfe Cycles was born. "Some people just can't afford a way to get around," Butler observes.
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| Elliot Rappleye in the shop |
The process has been straightforward: Bikes are donated, Rappleye repairs them and they're donated. So far, most of the donations have been made to people in recovery groups along Michigan's western shore who've come to their attention by word of mouth. They want to expand their services to give bikes to families and to promote cycling as a way to get around. Western Michigan is "the perfect little area" to promote a cycling lifestyle, according to Butler, who points to a plan to establish more bike-friendly lanes in Grand Haven.
Lyfe Cycles is collecting old bike donations and, at the moment, is still working out of a shop in the sober-living house where Rappleye started his work. A bike drive is scheduled for the 20th. But his and Butler's long-term plans include starting a brick-and-mortar shop and auctioning off custom bikes to turn Lyfe Cycles into a "self-sustaining brand."
A universal basic bike for everyone: Elliot Rappleye and Jon Butler might make this vision come true, at least on Michigan's western shore.
(Photos provided by Lyfe Cycles to Mlive.
