Portland is the car2go capital of North America

car2go launch

Car2go’s Portland launch in spring 2012.
(Photo: M.Andersen)

Fifteen years after Portland introduced commercial carsharing to North America, Portlanders are continuing to show how businesses that enable occasional car use can fit into a modern multimodal city.

Since car2go launched in Portland in 2012, it’s steadily grown its local fleet from 250 to 530 cars, the largest in the country for any single city and the largest in North America in cars per square mile of home area — 10.2.

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Job: Customer Service Representative – Velotech.com – FILLED

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

Sorry, this job has been filled. Browse more great jobs here.

Job Title
Customer Service Representative

Company/Organization
Velotech.com

Job Description
Customer Service Rep

This position is responsible for responding to customer phone calls, emails, and for working directly with customers in our store. Customer Service Representatives provide product information, advice and order assistance. Qualified CS Reps also review orders and price match requests and assist with site content, including product reviews, photos and descriptions.

Sales & Support candidate must:
● Answer product questions & assist with the order process
● Have excellent communication and organizational skills
● Analyze customer questions, troubleshoot, and provide clear answers in an efficient and professional manner
● Help develop trust and loyalty with consumers and build value in our brands
● Be comfortable in a high volume, fast-paced environment
● Demonstrate knowledge of cycling products and the ability to help customers of all levels of experience
● Comfortably navigate a sophisticated order processing system
● Work with Marketing to assist with customer-facing content, including site maintenance, product images and descriptions
● Coordinate with Returns to assist customers with returns and exchanges
● Assist walk-in customers with product questions and purchases
● Retrieve products from the warehouse to assist walk-in customers
● Increase sales by genuinely helping customers learn about additional/alternative product options
● Maintain a professional demeanor with all customers
● Be willing to talk about bicycles all day (even the kind you don’t like, if there’s a kind out there you don’t like)

The position requires basic computer skills and a strong knowledge of cycling. Previous customer service experience is a plus, as is sales, service and mechanical experience in the cycling industry.

How to Apply
To Apply please send a Cover letter and Resume to Jobs@velotech.com

Job: Bicycle Service Technician – Athletes Lounge

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Job Title
Bicycle Service Technician

Company/Organization
Athletes Lounge

Job Description
Athletes Lounge is looking for an experienced Service Technician to work in our retail location at 2671 NW Vaughn St., in Portland. Pay is based on experience. This is a full time position and includes weekend work. If interested, please send your resume and cover letter to Gary@athleteslounge.com. Athletes Lounge is a full service bicycle shop.

How to Apply
Email resume and cover letter to gary@athleteslounge.com

Is Portland ready to start building streets for smaller trucks?

truck on right

Big trucks in busy American cities are often seen as a necessary evil. But maybe that’s only half true.
(Photo: J.Maus/BikePortland)

Cities can’t exist without cargo. But it’s becoming increasingly clear that cities can exist with fewer big trucks.

Two weeks ago, the day after local man Kirke Johnson was killed in a collision with a right-turning semi-trailer truck that apparently failed to yield as he passed it going straight, urbanist website CityLab published an interesting bit of news.

After years of selling 15-foot cargo vans as delivery vehicles in Europe and Japan, Nissan has found a market for them in the United States, too:

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Stolen bike leads to two arrests for package theft in Beaverton

Stolen_Packages1

Stolen items recovered.
(Photo: WashCo Sheriff)

Washington County Sheriff deputies thought they’d just recovered a stolen bike; but it ended up leading them to a large cache of other stolen property.

According to a statement issued late Friday by the sheriff’s office, a $6,000 bike stolen off a car rack led them to the arrest of two prolific thieves. Here’s how it went down:

On November 26, 2014, a Washington County Deputy Sheriff took a report of a $6,000 bicycle stolen off of a vehicle rack in a parking lot at NW Murray Boulevard and NW Cornell Road. On November 27, 2014, the owner of the bicycle called the Sheriff’s Office to report they saw their bicycle advertised for sale on a website called “Offer Up“.

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Job: IT Tech Assistant – Velotech, Inc. – FILLED

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Sorry, this job has been filled. Browse more great jobs here.

Job Title
IT Tech Assistant

Company/Organization
Velotech, Inc

Job Description
Velotech, Inc is looking for a full-time IT assistant.

The Assistant to the IT/System Administrator provides support for hardware systems and software applications within our growing company. Responsibilities include installation, configuration, and maintenance of hardware and software to ensure consistent and efficient business operations. This individual installs and maintains workstations, phone systems, related peripherals, and network infrastructure. This role also installs, manages, and maintains system software, including operating systems, anti-virus programs, and graphic design software.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

1. Assist the IT Manager with daily duties, future planning, and resolution of hardware and software issues to ensure system uptime and employee productivity

2. Install, maintain, and rebuild existing workstations and configure all business hardware, peripherals, services, settings, etc.

3. Develop and maintain installation and configuration procedures and processes

4. Research and recommend innovative, and where possible automated approaches for system administration tasks

5. Perform daily system monitoring, verify performance of hardware, systems and key processes

6. Review system and application logs, and verify successful completion of scheduled jobs such as backups

7. Perform regular security monitoring to identify any possible intrusions, and pro-actively prevent future issues

8. Create, change, and delete user accounts per request.

9. Provide technical support for all staff members

10. Work with hardware and software vendors to resolve issues, ensure proper maintenance, and plan improvements and expansion

11. Repair systems following hardware or software failures, and coordinate with staff to mitigate damages and loss and salvage data

12. Remove viruses and malware, apply OS patches and upgrades on a regular basis, upgrade tools and utilities, and configure new hardware and software as necessary

13. Perform routine performance evaluations and plan future resource allocation

14. Monitor and tune system performance, configure CPU, memory, and disk partitions as necessary.
15. This position requires some travel between our facility locations(NW Portland, Tigard, and near PDX) therefore, a clean driving record and a valid driver’s license is required.

KNOWLEDGE/SKILLS:

* Solid background of Windows products
* Experience building, configuring and maintaining computers and related hardware and software
* Basic understanding of office-related computing needs
* Excellent problem solving skills across a range of devices, including printers, PCs, and tablets
* Fundamental understanding of system networking; load balancing, firewalls, routers, switches
* Vonage/Avaya or other IP / digital phone system experience
* Industry certifications and previous system administration experience is an advantage

Compensation: $12.00-$14.00 per hour to start DOE. Also includes a premium health care package after 30 days employment and a generous vacation plan.

How to Apply
To apply please send a cover letter and resume to Jobs@velotech.com

The Monday Roundup: Oil’s price plunge, Sydney’s bike ban proposal and more

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PDX Bike Swarm - ALEC F29 protests-14

Less so than they were, maybe.
(Photo: J.Maus/BikePortland)

Here are the great bike links from around the world that caught our eyes this week:

Cheap gas coming: The price of oil plummeted to its lowest non-recession level since 2007 on Thursday and Friday. It’s being described as the result of a major price war launched by OPEC in hopes of ending North America’s oil boom.

Vision zero bikes: Sydney is considering banning bikes from its “shared cycle way” network because someone walking might get hurt and sue.

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A Bike Black Friday shopping guide

The Outer Rim Bike Shop-1

Your local bike shop will be very
happy to see you on Black Friday.
(Photo by J. Maus/BikePortland)

Portland’s local bike businesses aren’t immune to the Black Friday phenomenon.

If you plan to start your holiday shopping early, or if you simply want to score some good deals for yourself, we’ve put together a Bike Black Friday shopping guide to point you in the direction of the best deals and discounts.

Scroll down for all the details on sales that start tomorrow (11/28) at River City Bicycles, Blaq Paks, Showers Pass, Clever Cycles, Joe Bike, and North St Bags…

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TriMet bus kills man who had been walking bike in bike lane (UPDATED)

bus stop

The bus stop on 82nd Avenue near Clackamas Town Center where the incident reportedly took place.
(Image from 2011: Google Street View)

A man who had been walking his bike in the bike lane down 82nd Avenue at SE Causey Wednesday night was killed beneath the back wheel of a TriMet bus, Oregon State Police said.

The man, a 60-year-old whose name has not yet been released, had apparently been passed by the bus while walking in the lane, caught up with it, and was beating on the back of the bus before his death.

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Light and warmth: New Portland Design Works Lars Rover and Showers Pass baselayer

Two new products from Portland-based bike companies deserve your attention — especially as evening commutes get darker and rides get colder.

Body-Mapped Baselayer from Showers Pass

baselayer

Male version shown. It also comes in a female version.

Showers Pass rain jackets are sort of an unofficial uniform for Portland bike riders. Given how many of them dot the streetscape when weather turns wet and cold, you’d think they were handed out at the border.

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In letter to PBOT, BTA says Williams Ave work zone has led to injuries

zones-BTA-lead

Current conditions on Williams Ave.
(Photo by Carl Larson/BTA)

The Bicycle Transportation Alliance is fed up with the dangerous work zone conditions on Williams Avenue. Claiming that bicycle riders have been injured and put in danger due to misplaced construction materials and a poorly implemented traffic control plan, the Portland-based non-profit group penned a letter today to the Bureau of Transportation with a laundry list of demands to improve the situation.

While the BTA supports the city’s North Williams Avenue Safety Project and says they are excited to see the finished product, the letter (written by BTA Engagement Manager Carl Larson) points out several specific and ongoing safety concerns — some of which have led directly to injuries.

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