Project Pollination Brings Public Art to Bike Share

Reddy Bikeshare and Eat Off Art in Buffalo, NY, teamed up to create a mobile public art project that encourages the use of bike share in its underrepresented community.

Eat Off Art artists, Alexa and Edreys Wajed
Photos by Memento Media Company

Buffalo, NY, is one of the cloudiest cities in the United States. A new special set of art bikes added to the city’s bike share fleet is hoping to make things a bit brighter. Buffalo’s bike share system, Reddy Bikeshare, recently launched its first public art project — Project Pollination — in partnership with Eat Off Art, a Buffalo-based small business that blends art, education, and entrepreneurship to inspire and empower the community.

When the Better Bike Share Partnership announced the latest mini-grant round earlier this year, Reddy Bikeshare applied and was awarded a grant to collaborate with Eat Off Art to design four art bikes to increase use and awareness of bike share in Buffalo’s east side community. The bikes officially hit the streets in mid-August.

“We’ve seen such a great spark of interest from people,” says Simon Husted, communications and marketing coordinator at Reddy Bikeshare. “Community figureheads living on the east side, who said, ‘This is fantastic.’ I think it’s gaining traction amongst block club leaders and people who normally are not in the bike share space to think about bike share.”

Bike share isn’t new to the city of Buffalo, with Reddy Bikeshare in its 10th year of operation, operating in both Buffalo and Niagara Falls with over 500 bikes. But, there are still residents who are either unfamiliar with the transportation option or simply not using it. 

“One of the ways to bring attention to bike share as a tool is to cause a slight disruption in seeing something different that normally your eye would just browse by because you’re familiar with the red bikes. It draws attention with the art bike, because it is so unique,” says Edreys Wajed, chief creative officer of Eat Off Art. “It’s about shifting attention. Then that attention becomes the awareness, and then that awareness, hopefully, opens a door for opportunity to try something new.” 

Alongside the release of these art bikes, Reddy Bikeshare is expanding its bike share network across the east side of Buffalo with new stations and electric bikes. This is made possible by an initiative funded by the New York Clean Transportation Prizes, supported by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). Alongside these efforts, Reddy Bikeshare introduced the East Side Forward Pass, which allows east side residents to get a yearly membership for $3.

“The whole reason why we started the East Side Forward Pass, this project to expand the footprint of bike share on the east side, and added e-bikes, is to encourage people to consider a membership model that gives them a discount,” says Husted. “With the support from Independent Health, we marked that [membership] price down from $40 to $3, and our goal is to see more activity happening among our east side stations.”

Through the end of September, Reddy Bikeshare is hosting a challenge to “pollinate” the four art bikes across Buffalo. Riders who end their trip on an art bike at three or more different stations will be entered into a raffle to win a $40 Amazon gift card and $40 worth of riding credits.

“We want people to go outside their comfort zone, go somewhere new using bike share, and use the art bikes. That’s why we have the pollination wellness challenge, so people can pollinate outside that comfort zone, and hopefully go to new places,” says Husted.

Husted also expressed his hope that residents see bike share not only as a mode of transportation and recreation but also as a means to enhance vibrancy. Public art can inspire imagination within a community and help people feel more connected and proud of their neighborhood.

“Public art brings awareness to any place it’s currently in,” says Alexa Wajed, chief strategic and operations officer at Eat Off Art. “It makes you see that maybe the sidewalks aren’t straight, or some of the houses are boarded up. So, mobile public art is an opportunity to get that lens and that perspective in more than just one static area.”