Cyclists Welcome: Talking Bikes with Momo's Owner Erin Malone

Mar 29

Mar 29 All in on bike lanes: A conversation with Momo's Market owner, Erin Malone

Editor's note: How can we make changes in our individual lives to have a bigger impact on the environment around us? Many members of the Burlington community advocate for building bike lanes to allow more people to safely bike. Using a bike instead of a car replaces the emissions of a vehicle with a green, healthy, and affordable option. Expanded bike lanes can mean less parking. To get a business perspective, we sat down with a local business owner, Erin Malone, owner of Momo’s Market: a food marketplace on the corner of Willard Street and North Street-- located in the Old North End of Burlington.

STVT: How do customers get to your business?

MALONE: So, Momo’s Market is designed to serve the neighborhood, right? Yes. And so I would say that the vast majority of my customers like to walk or bike, and we also get a lot of people who commute up to school or the hospital.

STVT: What do you think of biking as transport in this area? And the culture of biking in this part of the City?

MALONE: We put a bike rack in front of the building to encourage biking. I'm lucky with Momo’s because there's less commercial [traffic] around-- we are like the main commercial spot. And so to me, the biking around Momo’s is okay.

STVT: How has the City been as a partner in promoting biking?

MALONE: When the City made the change of the direction of the bike lanes on North Street, they were absolutely incredible in terms of communicating with me, hearing my needs. I think that [the city],[for me] as a business owner, has been an incredible partner in this.

STVT: Have you experienced any conflict (with your business) and the bike lanes?

MALONE: One issue that we have is we have 40 deliveries a week at high [volumes]. So, we need to [create] loading zones, unloading zones for them so the trucks don't park in the bike lanes… I think that's been a problem I see-- not only in my own business. You know, on Church Street, and everywhere else all around town.

STVT: Having a high number of deliveries directly results in many large trucks parking outside the store on a consistent basis. This causes limited accessibility for both entering customers and moving travelers on the street, such as bikers moving within the bike lanes and cars on the road. What is the solution?

MALONE: The best solution is to have loading zones and unloading zones for them so they don't park in the bike lanes- because I think that's been a problem.

STVT: Thoughts on improvements, and how to promote more biking in the community?

MALONE: The number one thing I think the city could do is if they created more bike parking in [busy] places… And you know, I think that marketing is important. If we change the city infrastructure and support lots of biking with more bike racks, [people] would be less upset about parking tickets and the corporatization of parking in the city. And I think that they could do that strategically because, for example, I think there's nothing more impressive than going up to UVM and seeing the bike rack right near to that theater, just chock full of bikes. And you're like, oh, everyone bikes. This is rad.

STVT: Throughout the conversation, Malone agreed on the importance of finding ways to not only integrate biking as a more popular mode of transport, but to weave the activity into the city’s culture. More remains to be done, but business leaders like Malone are ready to lead the way (or some wrap up statement).