Bicycle-Through: Cycling mom Twitters, gets burger chain to change policy

They call it "drive-through" for a reason -- or so "family bicycling evangelist" Sarah Gilbert learned on August 12, when she was refused service at a fast-food restaurant for being on a bicycle in the drive-through lane.

But she didn't just get mad; she got online, and prompted the company to change its drive-through lane policy for the better.

As the self-selected moniker of "evangelist" might suggest, Sarah Gilbert doesn't simply not own a car; she's affirmatively chosen to not own a car.  Gilbert instead transports her three sons, ages 2, 4 and 7, around Portland, Ore. on a custom-built stretch bicycle, which is adorned with the bumper sticker "One Less Minivan."  And she'd been served just a few weeks earlier at the very same Burgerville restaurant that was now turning down her order for four cheeseburgers.

So when she got home, Gilbert took action: She posted an exasperated criticism of the restaurant on Twitter -- "burgerville on 26th/powell turned me on my bike away from drivethrough, and not nicely at all, tho i've biked thru before. #bikeunfriendly?" -- wrote the company a letter, and posted the letter on her blog.

One twist to the story is that Burgerville, a regional fast-food chain, wears its eco-conscious heart on its sleeve.  The company buys all its power green; uses regional ingredients in season (oh, how I miss those Oregon-grown-blackberry shakes and Walla Walla onion rings since I moved back east); and recycles its cooking oil into biodiesel.

Within hours, Burgerville Twittered back to Gilbert: "Hi Sarah, We noticed your concerns and will be contacting you shortly via direct message. Thank you."

Two days later, Burgerville announced its plan to formally allow people on bicycles to order and pick up food in each and every one of the chain's 39 drive-through lanes.

On its own, this is a small-impact change on the larger canvas of sustainability (making it easier and more practical to live without a car) -- until you multiply your Sarah Gilberts by hundreds or thousands of American cities, and the thousands of businesses they can have an impact on.

"It is not even that I believe I, as a cyclist or mama of three or cute redhead or denizen of Southeast Portland, have an entitlement to fast food ordered through a speaker, paid for and delivered through a window," writes Gilbert. "But it is a symbol: of bike-friendliness. Of responsiveness. Of the power of words. Of rationality. Of a local company whose chief cultural officer is obviously not just a cute title.

"I don't really enjoy the world the way it is. I want the windows opened, the barriers taken down, people to get around more slowly and to talk more. I want it to be easier to smile at someone else. I want it to be harder not to know your neighbor. I want it to be safer, lovelier, more ordinary to ride your bike."

(Hat tip to JM)

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Image via Sarah Gilbert's blog entry of March 10, 2009