FW: Free bikes on campus

From: Judith Rice-Jones 
Sent: Monday, October 20, 2008 5:30 PM
To: UCCS Transportation 
Subject: Free bikes on campus

fyi

NYT
October 20, 2008

With Free Bikes, Challenging Car Culture on Campus
By KATIE ZEZIMA

BIDDEFORD, Me.  When Kylie Galliani started at the University of New
England in August, she was given a key to her dorm, a class schedule and
something more unusual: a $480 bicycle.

I was like, A free bike, no catch?  Ms. Galliani, 17, a freshman from Fort
Bragg, Calif., asked. Its really an ideal way to get around the campus.

University administrators and students nationwide are increasingly feeling
that way too.

The University of New England and Ripon College in Wisconsin are giving
free bikes to freshmen who promise to leave their cars at home. Other
colleges are setting up free bike sharing or rental programs, and some
universities are partnering with bike shops to offer discounts on
purchases.

The goal, college and university officials said, is to ease critical
shortages of parking and to change the car culture that clogs campus
roadways and erodes the community feel that comes with walking or biking
around campus.

Were seeing an explosion in bike activity, said Julian Dautremont-Smith,
associate director of the Association for the Advancement of
Sustainability in Higher Education, a nonprofit association of colleges
and universities. It seems like every week we hear about a new bike
sharing or bike rental program.

While many new bike programs are starting up, some are shutting down
because of problems with theft and vandalism. The program at St. Marys
College in Maryland was suspended because bikes were being vandalized.

Ours was one that was totally based on voluntary taking care of the bike,
said Chip Jackson, a spokesman for St. Marys, and I guess that was maybe a
tad unwise. So the next generation of this idea will have a few more
checks and balances.

At Ripon, and the University of New England, officials say that giving
students a bike of their own might encourage them to be more responsible.
Ripons president, David C. Joyce, a competitive mountain biker, said the
free bike idea came in a meeting about how to reduce cars on campus.

The college committed $50,000 to the program and plans to continue it with
next years freshmen. Some 200 Trek mountain bikes, helmets and locks were
bought, and about 180 freshmen signed up for the program. We did it as a
means of reducing the need for parking, Dr. Joyce said, but as we looked
at it from the standpoint of fitness, health and sustainability, we
realized we have the opportunity to create a change.

The University of New England here in Biddeford had a similar problem  too
many cars, not enough space and a desire to make the campus greener. So it
copied the Ripon program, handing out 105 bikes in the first week of
school. Because of the program, only 25 percent of freshmen brought cars
with them this year, officials said, compared with 75 percent last year.

We felt the campus could devolve to asphalt parking lots, and a lot of
people didnt want that to happen, said Michael Daley, head of the
universitys environmental council and a professor of economics.

The bikes are marked with each students name.

I dont have to fill it with gas, and it doesnt hurt the environment, said
Kaitlyn Birwell, 18. With a car, you need a parking permit, gas, and it
breaks down. Im a college student and dont have the money for that.

Michelle Provencal, 18, said she hopes her bike will help her avoid a
dreaded side effect of being a college freshman. Maybe instead of gaining
the freshman 15 Ill lose it, Ms. Provencal said.

When Mercer University in Macon, Ga., asked for donations of old bikes, it
received 60, which are being fixed up and painted orange and black, the
university colors. Forty are available for weeklong rentals, and Mercer
has organized mass rides to downtown Macon, about three miles away, to
promote the program.

A lot of students havent ridden a bike since middle school or even
younger, but when they get back on it their faces light up, said Allan J.
Rene de Cotret, director of the program. So why not leave your car parked
where you live or back home with your parents and ride your bike around
campus?

Emory University has partnered with Fuji Bikes and Bicycle South, a local
bike shop, to provide 50 bikes that can be rented at no charge at six
spots on campus. Students can also buy Fuji bikes at a discount and
receive a free helmet, lock and lights from Emory.

Students, faculty and staff can go to a rental station, show their Emory
ID and check out bikes. The program plans to add 70 more bikes and four
checkout points in the next year. In addition, about 150 bikes have been
sold through the partnership in the past year, said Jamie Smith, who runs
the program, called Bike Emory.

We like the idea of bolstering the cycling culture here, Mr. Smith said,
and ultimately it supports alternative transportation.

Bikes at some campuses were treated as toys rather than transportation.
Others were difficult to maintain or were not used.

The kids werent taking care of the bikes, leaving them wherever instead of
parking them in the bike racks, said John Wall, a spokesman for Juniata
College in Huntingdon, Pa., which eliminated its two-year-old bike-sharing
program this year. The other problem was that the bikes werent the
greatest to begin with. They were donated by Wal-Mart, and others were
rehabbed. They had also been out in the weather. It just didnt work out.

The elements are a concern at other universities as well. More than 150
students at the University at Buffalo signed up for a city bike-sharing
program that has drop-off points on campus, but it suspends service from
November to April.

Its hard to maintain all the bikes during winter, and usage drops
dramatically, said Jim Simon, an associate environmental educator at
Buffalo.

Here at the University of New England, officials wonder what will happen
when snow starts falling, but they are looking toward bike-sharing
programs in cities like Copenhagen and Montreal as proof that they can
work in the cold.

St. Xavier University in Chicago this month is unveiling the first
computer-driven bike sharing system on a college campus.

Students can wave their ID card over a docking port. The port is attached
to a rubber tube, which can be used as a lock and opened by entering an
access code. Students must enter the bikes condition before it can be
unlocked. The system is used in Europe, but with credit cards.

The first 15 minutes are free, and users pay 60 cents for each additional
15 minutes, or $2.40 per hour. All 925 resident students automatically
become members through their ID cards. The system was intended to be
environmentally friendly, with solar panels powering the ports.

A tracking system similar to G.P.S. will keep tabs on the bikes.

You cant throw it in Lake Michigan, said Paul Matthews, the universitys
vice president for facilities management, because well know if you throw
it in Lake Michigan.




Judith Rice-Jones, MA, MLIS          
Social Sciences & Art Librarian      719 262-3175   Fax 719 528-5227
University of Colorado               P.O. Box 7150
Colorado Springs, CO                 80933-7150


	"Find something that matters deeply to you and pursue it.  Question.
     Stand. Speak. Act.  Make us uncomfortable.  Make us think."  Terry
     Tempest Williams