St. Pete Bike Co-Op Celebrates 10th Anniversary
ST. PETERSBURG, FL — The St. Pete Bike Co-op celebrated its 10th anniversary of providing affordable resources to St. Petersburg-area bicyclists with a fundraising show Friday night. The event featured the bands Permanent Makeup, Black Clash, Star of Khorala and Work Stress taking the stage at its space at 559 Mirror Lake Drive N.
When Carrie Waite moved from the Pinellas Point area to downtown St. Petersburg more than a decade ago, she began riding her bike to get around.
“I was really enjoying riding my bike around,” she told Patch. “I didn’t have a lot of money at the time. I was going through a break-up and struggled to maintain my own bike. Paying for that at some of the local bike shops, which are awesome and important, can be cost prohibitive for some.”
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Then, she learned about the Tampa Bike Co-Op.
“I thought it was the coolest idea to provide tools and knowledge for bike repair and maintenance at a really low cost,” she said.
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Waite shared the ideas with her friends in St. Petersburg and they began working to get the St. Pete Bike Co-Op off the ground. It took a couple of years to get it running, but by June of 2013, the nonprofit was ready to open its doors, partnering with the city of St. Petersburg and the St. Petersburg Shuffleboard Club to rent space at the club’s Mirror Lake facility.
About 30 people showed up for the co-op’s first meeting. Today, the group averages about 75 members each year and averages about 300 visitors a month — both members and non-members — to its open shop nights on Mondays and Thursdays.
Visitors can pay a day fee if they have a flat tire or something simple they’d like to fix quickly using the co-op’s tools and the expertise of its volunteer mechanics. Those with annual memberships have access to these resources year-round.
This knowledge and these resources empower bicyclists, Waite said. “And we offer it in a way that’s inexpensive.”
These resources are also in high demand. Since the COVID-19 pandemic and with development making traffic and parking downtown difficult, more people than ever are using bicycles for transportation, she said.
“I think post-COVID, people are starting to come out more and more, and I think it’s even more busy now than it was pre-COVID,” according to Waite. “And definitely part of our mission is advocating for a more bike-friendly city that really stems from, for me, the safety. You want to be able to walk, ride your bike, take the bus, get to where you’re going no matter who you are or what your mode of transportation is. And more people are seeking out alternative modes of transportation downtown.”
The city has been a great partner on improving road safety for bicyclists, she added. “There have been tremendous improvements to bike infrastructure. There’s been really great progress with the city and it’s meeting higher and higher standards.”
In recent years, whenever the city repaves roads, staff reevaluates them to determine whether there’s room for new bike lanes or other safety improvements.
Waite and others from the co-op have sat on the city’s Bicycle & Pedestrian Advisory Committee at various points over the years.
“It’s pretty cool. We’ve had representation for the past decade,” she said. “But improving cycling in St. Pete has been our number one drive and our mission is to make sure that people can ride their bikes and enjoy themselves and feel safe and actually be safe. It’s been hard because Florida is one of the most unsafe places to bike or walk, but we’re making progress.”
Learn more about how to become a member or volunteer and how to donate funds or other resources to the co-op on its website.
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