AU is shifting transportation gears with a free bike rental program, paralleling the recent trend among many universities to increase student bike use.
Ryan Bodge, director of AU's Bike Share and a senior in the School of International Service, said the program started as a way to encourage alternate forms of transportation and to make city transportation easier for students.
The Student Government established it last semester, but then postponed it to perfect the computer system, Bodge said.
"The benefits [of the program] are, of course, the simple joy of riding your bike," he said. "But, in addition, a bike provides a great way to get around while being very environmentally sound."
The bike program is an important, environment-friendly action, according to Eco-Sense President Julie Munro, a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences. A decreased dependence on fossil fuel-based transportation encourages a positive result, she said.
"Although we are in an urban environment with a fantastic public transportation system," Munro said, "we will not always have that luxury if we relocate after college, and encouraging biking now will hopefully have a long-term impact on transportation choices."
AU students must file a waiver and make a reservation online at www.ausg.org/bikes to rent a bike through the program. Students then pick up the lock keys in the Mary Graydon Center, grab their bikes from the racks near the south side shuttle stop and ride away, Bodge said.
The program is free to all AU students. There are currently seven bikes of different sizes to choose from, each of which is available for up to six hours. The program plans to expand, he said.
Marina Gonzalez, a freshman in CAS, said that while she has her own bike, the program is definitely a good idea since most people do not need a bike for an entire day and could just rent one for a few hours.
"A bike is good for grocery shopping, or if I didn't want to take the shuttle, or for exercise," she said. "It's more fun than going to the gym."
Julia Young, a freshman in SIS, said she believes the program is a positive development and that it has a great deal of potential.
"They should advertise it more, because I would definitely use it and I think a lot of students would," she said.
Currently, the largest challenge Bike Share faces is the lack of knowledge about the program. But Bodge said he thinks the initiative will be successful once students know about it.
Many universities across the nation are also encouraging students to ride bikes, sometimes even offering free bikes to students, according to The New York Times. The University of New England in Maine and Ripon College in Wisconsin gave freshmen free bikes if they agreed to not bring a car to college.
For many universities, the bikes are not merely a solution to fossil fuel dependence and pollution, but also to overcrowded university parking lots, The Times reported.
AU's parking capacity is not a problem because of the numerous lots the university offers, according to Risk Management and Transportation Services Director Anthony Newman. The Nebraska, Katzen, Centennial and McDowell parking lots are open to students for about $400 a semester, according to the AU Transportation Services Web site.
The university has also seen a 20 percent decrease in parking permits this year, according to Newman. He said he could only speculate that high gas prices and the large number of freshmen contributed to that figure.
While the number of parking permits have decreased, the number of bikes has increased, Newman said.
"There has been a dramatic and stark increase [in bike riding]," he said. "To get a sense of the problem with bike spots, we took pictures of bike racks around campus."
He pointed to a photo on his computer screen of a rack so overloaded with bikes that many are chained to a nearby tree.
Yet, to accommodate eco-friendly riders, Newman said the university is working to install new bike racks around campus.
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