“My general rule last winter was that if my co-workers couldn’t come in and were working from home, then I would too.” But if his colleagues somehow managed to maneuver their vehicles through the weather, Brooking would hop on his bike for the five-mile commute from his house in Westbrook to his office near the mall in South Portland.
Needless to say, Brooking is committed to bicycle commuting, which is why after starting two other groups on Meetup.com (one to study peak oil and another to discuss alternative forms of energy) he established the Portland Maine Bicycle Commuting group (bike.meetup.com/132) to seek out like-minded individuals. The group, which developed as an offshoot of Brooking’s political and environmental concerns, was launched in February of 2006 and had garnered 100 members by the end of 2007. Over the last 10 months, membership has more than doubled — it’s currently at 220.
In addition to monthly meet-ups which alternate between social and educational opportunities, members have access to online features such as a message board, photos, files (bike trails and maps, maintenance advice, traffic safety info and winter commuting gear to name a few), and the ability to meet and contact other members. Brooking also offers reduced prices on the red taillights he buys in bulk from Ernie’s Cycle Shop in Westbrook and free bike stickers with slogans like, “One less car,” and “Zero Emissions Vehicle,” or — my personal favorite — “That SUV makes you look fat.”
One of Brooking’s goals is to use his group to reach across socioeconomic and generational boundaries, though he recognizes one immediate drawback to his group’s online format: “Not everyone has an internet connection. We’re working on that.”
Ultimately, he hopes to inspire more people to consider their transportation options, and to that end PMBC has teamed up with the local Green Streets group established by Sarah Cushman (portlandgreenstreets.org). Since last May the two groups have offered their members a web form which allows them to track their carbon savings. Not everyone takes the time to fill out the form, but of the 32 who did for June (21 bikers, 11 people using public transit, carpooling or walking) they travelled 15,000 miles via alternative transportation, thereby saving 600 gallons of gasoline (which would have cost them $2,400) and keeping six tons of CO2 out of the air.
As Brooking’s day job is in information technology, he was able to configure the web form so that it takes into account the MPG of individual users’ vehicles as well as daily fluctuations in gas prices, so the numbers — although they do depend upon users’ mileage estimates — are reasonably accurate. And it’s been nice for both Brooking and Cushman to be able to quantify the impact of their members transportation choices to some extent.
Of the three meetup groups Brooking has established, he says “Portland Maine Bicycle Commuting is the one that’s taken off the most and the one I have the most passion around.” And when the snow starts to fly, you’ll see that passion in action as Brooking — and plenty of others — continue to commute to work via bicycle. If you’d like to join them, check out portlandbikecommuting.org and get your winter gear in order.
— Belinda Ray