When sharing leaves you out

Bike sharing is here in St. Louis! Bright and shiny green-and-yellow LimeBikes are sitting on sidewalks and street corners throughout the city waiting for smartphone and debit card holders to pay a buck to ride for 30 minutes. It’s economical, environmentally-friendly, helps people get to bus stops and run errands and provides a fun fitness activity. They’re in Seattle, San Francisco, South Bend, DC, Dallas and Miami. Great idea for the city of St. Louis, right?

I thought so too. I heard and read about this new dockless bike sharing system coming to the city. And I was excited last week to see a few scattered across my neighborhood while I was out walking my doggy. So I scooped up my 15-pound Chihuahua mix to see if she could fit in the bike’s front basket and she did. Well, I thought, it’s been 15-20 years, but they say you never forget.

I pull out my phone to download the LimeBike app to unlock the bike. As I was scanning and verifying by text, a man in his 30s got off the bus and came over. He had a sparkle of curiosity in his eyes. “Hey, I heard about these,” he says. “You can just get on it and ride? For free?”

“I think so…” I tell the man as I’m looking at the app information. “Oh wait, it’s $1 for 30 minutes but you get the first ride free.” I start to show him the app and we go through the scanning process (it didn’t work, I had to manually enter the number). I don’t know this man but we actually go through the entire process together until I get the bike automatically unlocked by entering the code LimeBike texted me. The man walks away smiling. “Yeah I’ll be getting on one of these,” he says before telling me to have a nice day.

And so it began. Me and my doggy’s urban bike sharing adventure. The wind blew through our hair. The air blew out of my lungs. Quickly. I walked the bike more than I rode it. I made it to the corner near my house and put the kickstand down. Time to park and lock.

As I sat on the steps in front of my house trying to catch my breath, I noticed a group of neighborhood kids show interest in the bike. Three black boys around 10 to 12 years-old. Two looked like brothers. As they approached the colorful bicycle, I saw the same sparkle in their eyes that I saw in the grown man who got off the bus. I felt in them the same anticipation that I felt when I first saw this shiny new toy. Something that I could pick up and play with.

But they could not. They examined the bike, looked at the wording and markings, kicked up the kickstand and tried the lock to see if it would bulge. It did not. There was no smartphone for them to pull out. No debit card to load cash into their registered accounts. They walked away.

I’ve seen these boys before. The two brothers have frayed clothing and unkempt hair. Their friend, the leader, has been seen trying to start fights. They have time on their hands and they walk around looking for something to get into. I’ve never seen these kids riding bicycles.

More than 30 percent of the people who call St. Louis home live below poverty level. Of the African American population, 70 percent live below poverty level. Yes, that means that most of the black people who live in St. Louis are poor. The poor black people in St. Louis are dealing with gun violence, police brutality, neighborhood neglect, substandard schools, excessive crime, low wages and systematic and institutionalized racism. We are hurting. And we need care.

I realized then that these little boys will be seeing these lime and lemon treasures all summer. They will be walking past them with the knowledge that they will never be able to ride them. Just one more enticing but unattainable thing dangling in front of them. Like so much in America, it’s there – but it ain’t for them.

I know there are practical reasons that minors can’t ride. Legal liability, injury, parental responsibility (or lack thereof), etc. And LimeBike claims that they are putting processes in place for those who don’t have smartphones or debit cards (even though I couldn’t find the ‘registration online’ thing they claim exists). But the legal disclaimer on their websites states that the bikes are for those 18 or older; or 13 and older with parental permission – permission from the parents who aren’t empowered enough to provide bikes for their kids in the first place. In other words, these kids will not be sharing the bikes that are part of the city’s bike sharing program.

Did the city of St. Louis consider how this bike sharing program would affect kids who don’t have bikes? Does it matter at all that these kids will once again be excluded. That this is symbolic of how these citizens of St. Louis will continue to root in poverty and neglect and hopelessness. Or are city leaders so busy portraying an image of a hip and with-it city like Seattle, that the impact of this exclusionary bike program on the black or poor youth is just collateral damage?

If we really want to value the youth who are the future of our city, perhaps we should come up with a better way. Like if the city is going to have a bike sharing system for adults, then perhaps it should also be making an effort to provide free bikes for the kids. And since the bike sharing companies are for-profit, hey what about the city stipulating that they provide those free bikes. I don’t know. Just thinking out loud.

As for me, I’m not getting back on a LimeBike or any other bike sharing product. I’m not riding with a system that excludes the very population that so desperately needs to be included.