Cambridge installs free bike maintenance stations for cyclists

By Brock Parker, Town Correspondent

With bicycling becoming an increasingly popular form of transportation in Cambridge, the city has installed three new maintenance stations where cyclists can make minor repairs and inflate tires free of charge.

Cambridge Transportation Program Manager Cara Seiderman said the city has installed the bicycle repair stations in Harvard Square and outside the main library in the past two weeks. Another center was installed at Fresh Pond late last year.

“It’s a way of supporting and making it easier for people to bike,” Seiderman said.

The stands provide tire gauges and pumps, Allen wrenches and a few other tools that enable cyclists to make minor repairs, such as adjusting seats or handlebars.

Each station cost the city about $1,000 and Seiderman said the city got the idea from MIT which has already installed repair stations around its campus.

The installation of the repair stations comes as the city has seen a growing number of people riding bikes through Cambridge. A study conducted by the city estimates that the number of people bicycling in Cambridge more than doubled between 2002 and 2008, based on a study of the number of cyclists counted traveling through 17 different intersections. Seiderman said the number has continued to rise since 2008.

The city will be monitoring the repair centers, and if they are well-used more could be installed at other locations, Seiderman said.

In Harvard Square, the bicycle repair station can be found at the corner of Elliot and Brattle streets in the parking garage under the Harvard Square Hotel. The stand outside the main library is along the path to the right of the building when facing the building from Broadway. At Fresh Pond, the repair stand is found at the public entrance by the clock tower.