By Jules Lindgren
Utah State University?s students are pedaling around campus on bikes loaned to them for free, but at BYU, where free bike use was not successful, students are walking to class.
The Aggie Blue Bike program, a cooperative undertaking between the Utah Conservation Corps and Utah State University, allows students to check out free bicycles for up to 30 days. Here?s how it works: students show up with their identification cards, sign a liability form and ride off on one of the newly-painted, second-hand bikes.
?We wanted to make it as easy and quick as checking out a book,? said Sean Damitz, program director for Utah Conservation Corps.
BYU tried a similar program a few years ago. Lt. Greg Barber, who manages the parking office, said they got a bunch of used bicycles, painted them and put them in the bike racks for students use. Unfortunately, he said, they were all stolen in a few weeks.
One difference between BYU?s bike loan attempt and that of Utah State is the liability forms. BYU?s bikes were in racks for general use, while students at Utah State loan a specific bike and are liable for everything that happens to it, including theft.
Bike loan programs around the world, including Provo?s Blue Bike program started last summer, are an attempt to provide alternate methods of transportation to those that need it.
?Some are getting the bikes because they?re tired of parking congestion, some because they?re freshman and they have no other way of getting around,? said Adam Christiansen, USU Blue Bike student coordinator. ?Some are international students, and some are doing it just because it?s such a great thing.?
Marc Neilson, an electrical engineering graduate student at Utah State, said he borrowed a bike to avoid parking congestion on campus and because a bike offers greater mobility.
?It was nice to be able to have access to a bike and get across campus in a minute and a half,? he said.
As for Provo, Lt. Greg Barber said he wasn?t sure if there was even a need for such a program at BYU; it hadn?t been looked into at all.
The Aggie Blue Bike project was conceptualized about a year ago, Damitz said, when a blurb in the student newspaper sparked talk of loaning out bicycles on campus. Utah Conservation Corps, along with a coalition of students, staff and faculty, looked into starting a bike loan program.
Before even starting the program, there were glitches to overcome.
?First we had to change the walkway policy,? Damitz said.
Utah State?s policy, like that of BYU, said students could not ride their bikes on campus sidewalks during the break between classes, but Damitz said that was when the need to ride was the greatest. Furthermore, the policy was unenforceable from a police standpoint.
Once the policy was changed, it only took a few months to purchase used bikes, paint them blue and get everything in order
The start-up cost of the program was under $3,000 Damitz said, with money coming from several different organizations, but it is likely to go up as the program continues.
The bike loan program at the University of Idaho, which has been running for seven years, spends about $700 a year, primarily on parts and licenses for the bicycles, according to Glen Kauffman, International Friendship Association coordinator.
Future challenges for the Aggie Blue Bikes include finding places to store the bikes in the winter, figuring out where funding is going to come from and maintaining student interest in the program.
In the end, it?s going to take students? continued interest in checking out bikes ? and returning them ? to keep the program running, Damitz said.