Walking, Biking, and Other Wheels

As noted in the graph on our Transportation page, biking is the most efficient way to get around, even more so than walking.

Today skate-boards, scooters, 3-wheeled bikes and more have been added to the mix.  Many of them are now electric to make getting around easier on our muscles.  They are especially popular among people without a license to drive, allowing them to get around with the least cost possible.

The Green Energy Consumers Alliance has a section on  Electric Bikes, including a section on incentives to help you purchase bikes and safety gear.  Keep an eye on the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center website for application times.

The City of Greenfield is exploring options to create a network of safe and comfortable bike routes for cyclists throughout the city.  The City’s Department of Planning and Development asked the Conway School to study the city’s existing bike infrastructure, analyze the physical conditions of the roadways, and survey the community to understand where it would be most impactful to create bike routes and add cycling infrastructure.

Their final report, called Greenfield’s Bicycle Network: A Path to Safer Connectivity, was released in April 2026.

Participants in a meeting held by Conway School members at the John Zon Center decided to form a group calling itself “Bike Greenfield”.  Early discussions are about doing rides, clean-ups, advocacy about working toward bike safety improvements, and even holding book discussions.  The first clean-up was April 11, 2026 along the bike path in Greenfield, in conjunction with many other groups.  About 70 people from all the groups showed up!  Members are of all ages, abilities, and interests, so it will be fun to see where this goes. 

From 5 – 7 pm on Mondays, at the Redistro Arch Street Warehouse (15 Arch Street, but currently accessed only from Wells Street) Redistro holds Bike Open Hours.  They say “Come by if you need help with your bike, want to check out the bikes we have (for free!) or just want to hang and learn.  Donations of bikes or parts are also welcome.  It’s a fairly new space (the first floor of the warehouse where the thrift shop is on the 2nd floor) but we think it’s pretty cool, so if you’ve got bikes on the brain, come through, hang out, and see if we can help.”

To encourage biking, Greening Greenfield is working with the Greenfield Middle School on their new Everything Bike Club.  It had a shaky start at the end of the spring 2026 school year, and we’ll see what 2026/27 brings.  Stay tuned.