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| [Paula Scher for Public Bike's Public Works project] |
In today’s learning sf, I sat down with Laurel Collins wholeft the world of industrial automation to first join the team at TchoChocolate before starting her current gig at Public Bikes. Public Bikes is adesign-focused bike company bringing bikes to the masses. They are about tolaunch their most affordable- and approachable- bike yet. I sat down withLaurel in a café across from their Valencia Street pop up shop, one of threePublic Bikes shops in the Bay Area, to talk biking and San Francisco.
Be sure to check out some upcoming events at Public Bikes atthe end of the interview!
Did you bike before taking a job at Public Bikes?
I’m generally athletic. I played soccer in college and aftermy soccer career, I started doing triathlons, because once an athlete, alwaysan athlete. I needed something to train for. So I was biking for the triathlons.I was not a casual biker. For me, bikes and cities did not come together. Itdidn’t occur to me, especially with a small child. Working with Public hasopened my eyes to a completely different world. Even with a child, you caninvolve bikes in your life to a much greater degree that I ever thoughpossible.
So if it wasn’t biking, what drew you to Public Bikes?
There was a philosophical match for me with the company. I’mpassionate about urban spaces and my own personal environment, having it be pleasingand rich and functional. San Francisco, for me, personifies everything I wouldlike in a city. It is functional, you can bring up a family here, there areparks, there’s color, different neighborhoods. It’s eclectic. It’s just a great place to work andlive, so for me adding bikes to that whole mix a no-brainer.
Now I’m hyper aware of all the passion around biking thereis here. It’s one reason we’re on Valencia Street; it’s the center of the bikecommuting community.
How does design play a role at Public Bikes?
Our products are oriented around design and lifestyle. Ourcustomers are women who maybe haven’t biked in 5 years and they want to go downto the market with their functional, beautiful basket and put all their fruitsand vegetables in it, and go to work and tool around town and look good doingit. We’re not a super high tech bike-y type of company.
Those people are going to find those bikes, so what’sreally great is you are expanding the market for people like me who get here orto other cities and realize how much more convenient biking can be. Design hasplayed such a role in the company… founder of DWR
The accessibility of the bikes is part of the design of thebikes and the company. It is interesting to me that so few bike companies thathave anything quite like public bikes. They are sort of a nod to the past- theold French mixte, the Dutch step-through. I think people are getting back tothe time, when things were simpler and more carefree. When I look at the brandas an outsider, it’s fun. It’s playful. It’s almost like being a kid again.Back to the pure enjoyment of riding a bike, I get see that everyday [whenpeople go on test rides.] It’s probably the best thing about my job.
We don’t want to be any way exclusive. We want to beinclusive- we just want people on bikes.
