Aggie Blue Bikes gets a remodel

On Friday, Aggie Blue Bikes celebrated its 10th anniversary. For the occasion, it received a remodel. The shop was closed for bike operations and open to the public for people to take a look at the facilities and ask questions.

Stephanie Tomlin, the Aggie Blue Bikes program coordinator, said the remodel is finished as of Friday. They now have additional floor space, five tool boards and four mechanic benches.

“So we’re essentially doubling our operations,” Tomlin said.

Tomlin said the money that paid for the remodel came from a congestion mitigation air quality grant, which is federal money that’s available through the local CMPO, or the Cache Metropolitan Planning Organization. They applied for the grant to expand their operations, received it and finalized the grant in about 2014.

“Since then, I’ve been working on getting it to the local level,” Tomlin said.

“The space is awesome,"  said Erica Stephens, a student at USU. "There’s more space and space efficiency."

Stephen’s husband was a bike mechanic at Aggie Blue Bikes for some time. They would bring their bikes in to work on them.

“We rebuilt my mom’s bike together. So we have been associated with Aggie Blue Bikes for the past five, six years,” Stephens said.

“It’s supporting the bike community as a whole," Stephens said. "I can’t believe how many Aggie Blue Bikes I see out on the road and in town. It’s promoting more sustainable ways of transportation through Logan especially for students. Either you can pay a lot of money for a parking pass or you can be healthy and ride your bike to school."