A couple of weeks ago when we wrote about the growing list of American builders making Bakfiets, Dutch style box cargo bikes, we mentioned that the Center for Appropriate Transportation in Eugene, OR, offers a five month apprenticeship in cargo bike building. They’ve just opened up registration for their next session which starts July 15 and runs to December 15. The tuition cost of the apprenticeship is $5000 with $300/month for community housing and you get your own cargo bike of the design of your choice to take home when you’re done. Those interested can visit the CAT site or contact Karl Benedek at (541) 686-9885 or ocycling@catoregon.org.
Here’s their press release on the apprenticeship:
The “Human Powered Network” Invites Applicants To Make Some Real Change, One Cargo Bicycle at a Time
EUGENE, OR, May 3, 2009 – The Center for Appropriate Transport (CAT) announced today that it is officially accepting applications for its new apprenticeship program. This apprenticeship program will teach the fundamentals of bicycle frame building, with particular emphasis on the construction of cargo bicycles, tricycles and trailers. CAT will also provide participants with hands-on instruction for starting and operating a successful cargo bicycle delivery service—a 100% CO2-free method of urban cargo transportation. Participants in this five-month apprenticeship will take home the skills and designs they will need to build their own manufacturing business and delivery service.
Utilizing the principles of social enterprise, sustainability, and appropriate technology, graduates of CAT’s apprenticeship program can join a cargo bicycle business network that will be based on concepts derived from micro and social franchising, as well as flexible manufacturing networks. “We are an organization committed to community involvement in manufacturing, using, and advocating for sustainable modes of transportation—and local business,” said Jan VanderTuin, director at the Center for Appropriate Transport. “What we have done in our community, we are certain graduates from this program can do in theirs. Our intent is to create a Human Powered Network.”
The bicycles that participants will learn how to build are based on European designs researched by VanderTuin in the early 1980s. CAT uses the cargo bikes, tricycles and trailers it builds to operate Pedalers Express, Eugene, Oregon’s first and only year-round, all-weather, cargo bicycle delivery service. Pedalers Express has been providing its community with fast, dependable, weatherproof, 100% CO2-free, same-day deliveries since 1992—saving an estimated 25,000 pounds of CO2 annually.
About the Center for Appropriate Transport
The Center for Appropriate Transport (CAT) is a non-profit organization committed to community involvement in manufacturing, using, and advocating sustainable modes of transportation. The first organization of its kind, the Center was founded in Eugene, Oregon in the fall of 1992. More information about the Center’s many projects can be found at http://www.catoregon.org/ High-res photos available upon request.
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