Uplifting Buffalo's East Side with E-bikes
- Pat Cray
- Feb 2, 2023
- 2 min read
Updated: May 7, 2024
Patrick Cray
Shared Mobility Inc.
NYSERDA Climate Justice Fellow, 2022
Patrick is a Buffalo NY based photographer that has been working with Shared Mobility Inc. (SMI) for nearly 2 and a half years. Patrick has been working as a community outreach coordinator/ Photographer/ operations specialist for the WNY E-Bike Library and E-Bike Pilot connecting with the community. Patrick's work with SMI has brought him massive amounts of knowledge and experience thanks to support from NYSERDA's Climate Justice Fellowship program.
Pat’s work focused on helping to develop and pilot an E-Bike Library program in Buffalo with SMI’s partners at the East Side Bike Club (ESBC). This program is the first of its kind in New York State and provides e-bikes to local residents at no cost to help alleviate transportation, economic, and health disparities focused on disadvantaged communities within the city.
Based out of ESBC’s Community Workshop in Buffalo’s Kensington-Bailey neighborhood, the program not only helped give folks access to new ways to get around, but also serves as a focal point for the Club’s community building events and group rides.
Patrick’s work with SMI and ESBC has helped propel the E-Bike Library program forward and, with support and guidance from our partners at LISC NY, NYSERDA has awarded funding from its Clean Neighborhoods Challenge prize to build and grow the program even further.
This is a body of work that shows what this past year has been like for him. Consider these snapshots of progress as we all work together to use transportation as a tool to build and uplift our communities.
Here are some participants from East Side Bike Club's E-bike Library Program
Alongside providing an E-bike Library, ESBC's Community Workshop offers a program called "Our Earn a Bike Workshop" which provides members of the east side community the opportunity to receive bicycle safety training, maintenance, and repair. To participate, one must complete a bicycle safety course, a basic bike mechanic course, and volunteer two hours of your time at the shop!
Emile Bensedrine joined SMI as a Cornell High Road Fellow in the Summer of 2022, and learned about the opportunities that the E-bike Libraries and Bike Share can have on filling the mobility gaps throughout underdeveloped communities in Buffalo.
