MOTU and Streets Department Start Clean Sweep of Abandoned Bikes Today, Call 311
A broken bike on Pine between 8th and 9th streets. Local artist Corrina Mehiel has been replacing wheels on broken bikes with wooden ones throughout the city as part of her Bike (Ph)ix project.
For those of you who have been passing the same abandoned bike every time you go out, the City is ready to make your day-to-day walks just a little more scenic.
The Mayor’s Office of Transportation and Utilities (MOTU) and the Philadelphia Streets Department have collaborated for a project called the Abandoned Bike Clean-Up project.
As of today, the Streets Department will begin a week-long sweep to pick up abandoned bicycles that still haven’t been identified by its owners. The project aims to improve biking conditions by making bicycle parking easier and avoiding overcrowding on the sidewalks.
Local residents can help expedite the process by reporting forgotten bikes to the City’s 311 hotline. When notifying 311, you’ll need to know the location of the bicycle, what the bike is locked to, and any distinguishing features including color, broken or missing parts, or any unique identifiers.
MOTU defines “abandoned bikes” as those that have missing or damaged parts, those that are in unusable condition, and those that have been locked in the same location for over a month.
Abandoned bikes will be tagged with notifications for removal and owners will have one week to reclaim them before they are hauled off and renovated for future use. This year, the abandoned bikes will be donated to Neighborhood Bike Works and Resources for Human Development, where the nonprofits will refurbish them for educational purposes.
For those of you who won’t be around to take advantage of the project, MOTU usually performs bike clean ups once or twice a year, and residents can report abandoned bikes any time of the year.
According to MOTU, they will clean up about 55 to 80 bikes in the general Center City area today alone.
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