Green OWU

The Bike Movement as Public Transportation at OWU

The President’s Climate Commitment encourages access to public transportation for all faculty, staff, students and visitors at our institution.  Efforts underway at OWU to establish a bike sharing program can be part of a public transportation initiative at OWU, and stands as a viable immediate action activity.

Public Transportation at OWU

Because OWU is a residential college located in a smaller community with limited public transportation, fulfilling the President’s Climate Commitment on public transportation is not as simple as providing bus passes to faculty staff and students.  The bike sharing program outlined below is a one facet of a broader public transport program at OWU.  Other ideas to investigate include:

• Biodiesel fueled campus shuttles (to reduce student driving on campus)
• Regional shuttles (cooperative project with Delaware Public Transport): regular shuttles between campus and Polaris, Easton, Columbus (OWU is promoted as being near a big city but access is very limited if a student does not have a car).  Shuttles for faculty who live in Columbus and other northern suburbs, or ride sharing program.
• Rickshaws on campus: possibly more for PR: rickshaws on campus during selected hours; use for campus visitors and events; good exercise for students pulling rickshaws.  Tie to bike sharing program?

The Bike Movement

The Bike Movement is a student initiative with the purpose of implementing a communal bike program and once implemented, building force behind the greater themes of environmentalism and sponsoring related activities, creating real change at Ohio Wesleyan.

• Christopher Kelley: cwkelley5@gmail.com or by phone: 614-270-5751
• Lara Kobelt: lakobelt@owu.edu
• Jack Stenger: jackstenger@gmail.com
• Matthew Jordan: mpjordan@owu.edu

How can The Bike Movement benefit Ohio Wesleyan University?

Residential Life Mission: As a residential campus, OWU believes that much of what a student learns comes from outside the classroom, mainly in the form of communication with other students and staff. Communal bikes will encourage students to leave their rooms and through interaction and conversation with each other it will enrich intimacy and common experience.  The program is an example of meeting the demands of current issues and is in the spirit of experiential learning.

Moreover, on all college campuses, space is a premium.  Having a communal bike program will encourage students to leave cars at home.  This may alleviate the need for another parking lot, thus freeing up space on campus for other developments, or trees.  Bikes are also one of the most efficient exercises, so this program will allow busy students to save a few minutes while improving their physical health.

Environment: Environmental issues have been at the heart of Ohio Wesleyan students for many years.  This year the Sagan National Colloquium has brought these issues to the fore.  In this climate we have heard administrators and faculty state that they hope that tangible changes result from the ongoing discussion.  The Bike Movement is a student-initiated change with wide support.

Global climate change may be the most important and widespread problem our world is facing.  Levels of greenhouse gases are exceeding levels scientists have placed as the maximum required to have a stable atmosphere.  Carbon emitted from cars is a leading proponent of these gases, but still many students on campus drive to class each morning, to practice each night, or to the library.  With bikes conveniently available, students will have an alternative to drive if they are in a hurry or despise walking.

Every year independent researchers evaluate colleges and universities with respect to independent sustainability in a program entitled “The College Sustainability Report Card.” Annually, 300 schools are judged based on efforts they have made to raise environmental awareness and action.  OWU received a  D-.  Only 4 schools out of 300 were worse than OWU.  We need to change this and a bike share program is a relatively easy and worthwhile first step.

Admissions/Alumni: OWU is in constant competition with other schools for the premier students around the world.  Having a bike share program is a signal to prospective students that OWU cares about the future and is dedicated to making a difference.  This will draw students who are socially aware and responsible global citizens.  Think of a bike share program as another way to advertise our school.  Despite all of the great opportunities at OWU, a D- is turning motivated students away.  A communal bike program will be one way to raise the grade.  These changes will also please alumni, who want to see a constantly evolving school that meets the needs of the current students.  This may influence more alumni to be involved with the school and donations toward progressive programs may increase.

Sustainability

We hope to implement this communal bike program as soon as possible. Ohio Wesleyan would not be the first to implement such a program. There are over 65 colleges with communal bike programs registered with the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education. Similar schools with communal bike programs are Davidson College, Hampshire College, and a familiar rival, Oberlin College.

Many communities across America and Europe have successful programs, including many started by college campuses. The program in Paris called Velib has been the most successful and is probably the best known of any program of its kind. Germany’s “call-a-bike” program is very effective as well. A very successful American program is the Yellow Bike Project in Austin, Texas. Another is Emory University’s communal bike program, which has a rental system students can use to cycle for exercise, get to class, and for general recreational use – all free of charge. Other programs grant a limited number of students their own personal bike at the beginning of the year, encouraging students to leave cars at home.

We have spent hours researching these and countless other programs with the intent to understand the best methods in sustaining the program. That is, preventing theft, generating enthusiasm about riding a bike instead of driving (or walking), and how best to take care of the bikes. We have found several solid methods for implementing this program, which we divulge below.

One way to expand the program with little to no cost is encouraging graduating seniors to donate their bicycles if they plan to discard them. Also the abandoned bikes at the end of each summer session will be funneled to us. Donations are always welcome in a program like this.

Please note that much to our surprise, there were a total of four students who were proposing communal bike programs independently. We happened to come together through word of mouth and mutual friends. This demonstrates that demand for alternative forms of transportation and the concern of environmental issues are not just isolated concerns of a few students. Many different campus organizations have invested interests in this program. The Environment and Wildlife Club are obviously interested in preserving the environment. WCSA, as the student government, has an interest in providing convenient services to students that are affordable—sharing a bike is much less expensive than owning a car, or even a bike. Off-campus students want to be able to get to class in a short amount of time—bikes are an extremely expedient form of transportation. The Cycling Club enjoys cycling and understands the health benefits of biking. Departments of Environmental Studies, Zoology, and Botany may want to become involved as well, as many aspects of the program are relevant to their area of study. The Student Health Center may also help to preserve the program, as students are benefited by the exercise they get from biking instead of driving. We believe, therefore, that future OWU students will be interested in sustaining the program as so many different areas of this institution have significant reasons for supporting it.

Operation

Our aim is to purchase 40 new Trek single-speed coaster brake cruiser bicycles and one tandem bicycle through Breakaway Cycling just off Sandusky. The price for each Trek cruiser bicycle is $259.99. The tandem is $649.99. We are buying aluminum frames so that the bikes will not rust. We will paint all the bikes a bright yet attractive yellow. The 40 bikes will come disassembled and Dan Negley, the owner of Breakaway Cycling, has agreed to train a few students how to properly assemble them (he has also given us factory price on the bikes). Public Safety has offered us Federal Work-Study positions so that students can get paid to assemble them. After the bicycles have been assembled, a student or two will be assigned to maintain the bikes, changing the flat tires, and any other minor problem under the Public Safety budget. Each bike will have a unique identifier (such as a number) so that we know if one is missing, has a flat to change later, etc.

For the operation of the program, students would be required to register for the program. This would involve taking an online bike and road safety course, somewhat similar to the set-up of AlcoholEdu.  Additionally, to become a member of the communal bike program, a student would need to sign a waiver saying that she/he understood the terms of the program and was responsible for her/his well being while using the bicycle. The student would then be issued a standard key that would fit any of the locks of the bikes involved in this program (the key would be issued attached to a matching yellow wristlet so as to minimize the risk of losing it and making it easily accessible). If a student loses his/her key, she/he will simply have to pay the cost of ordering a new key in order to become reinstated into the program.

The decision to use a lock and key system arose from the need to have the bikes secured but nevertheless accessible. We want to make it as simple as possible for students to get riding without subjecting the bikes to theft. We considered using a swipe-card system but discovered the inconvenience in cost and in the limits of places students could take their bikes (the bike could only be turned in at a swipe-card bike rack, so they would be severely limited in where they could go, and swipe card systems are incredible expensive). Also we ran across some difficulty in using combination locks (students would not feel the need to sign a waiver—they could just tell all of their friends the combination). We therefore decided that a lock and key system would be the most beneficial to all since it has few drawbacks (the loss of the key being the most significant).

We want to start small in order to gauge the initial progress of the program. After a certain period of time (to be determined), we will decide to purchase more bikes if necessary. If the program turns out to be successful, which we argue will occur, we expect the donations and abandoned bikes to supply additional bikes as the program gains popularity. Future OWU students will have the task of continuously evaluating the program and making changes as needed. That may involve expanding the range of the program. This may even involve getting members of Delaware City into cooperation with the project, such that it could become a community-wide program instead of just a campus-wide program.

We have the interest and support from Breakaway Cycling’s owner, as mentioned earlier. He said that it would be possible to strike up a deal to have reduced fee tune-ups, which will be mandatory every six months. This will be designated by a decal on the right handlebar listing the date of the last tune-up and the date of the next scheduled tune-up. We are also going to purchase the original bikes for the program through him for a reduced price from the original retail value—$315.99.

Related Activities

We would like encourage students to use this program by sponsoring a series of put-down-your-car-keys-and-pick-up-a-bike events. We have considered the following ideas and are open to new ones:

1. Have a campus-wide Bike Day where students can receive prizes if they ride their bikes instead of driving (we would also strongly encourage staff to ride instead of drive—especially if they live in Delaware). This would hopefully occur on the first day we have the bikes available for students to ride; likely during the first week of decent weather in the spring.

2. Possibly cosponsor a bike race/ride with the Cycling Club (taking advantage of the recently developed Delaware Bike Trail).

3. A community bike ride (similar to a parade) to raise awareness.

4. Free t-shirts! These would help to raise awareness about the program (although the cost of these has not yet been included in the budget).

5. WCSA sponsored activities in downtown Delaware that students could attend if riding a bike.

Funding

Coil Key Chains: 84 dozen coil key chains (1000 students/12 = 83.34)
These are to help keep the keys from getting lost. We are assuming that a maximum of 1000 students will register for the program.
>144 dozen = $1.45/dozen
$1.45/dozen x 84 dozen = $121.80
http://store.rebeccas.com/store/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=KC108

Locks/Cables: $324.96 plus ~$12 for shipping for a total of $336.96 for 48 locks.  It makes sense to get 48 because they are sold in packs of 12 and we could have some extra. They would consist of a simple, sturdy master lock and a 6′ self-coiling cable.
The products:
Cable:    http://www.masterlock.com/cgi-bin/product_detail.pl?sub_cat_id=D65
Lock:    http://www.masterlock.com/cgi-bin/product_detail.pl?dir=/cgi-bin/prod_search.pl?product_number=4140+ka&numbersearch.x=0&numbersearch.y=0&sub_cat_id=D4140&template=app
We will be buying them through Bob at Lock Specialty, Inc. (http://lockspecialty.com/).
$324.96 + $12 = $336.96

Keys:
Each lock comes with two keys. 48 x 2 = 96 keys
1000 – 96 = 904 keys
904 keys x $2.50/key = $2,260

Paint: $35.99/gallon “Majic Rust Kill” oil base gloss, rust preventative (We’re only going to start off with one gallon at first, the hardware store worker said it goes a long way). We’d be buying this paint from the hardware store on Sandusky Street (right next to the natatorium).
$35.99/gallon x 1 gallon = $35.99

Helmets: $38.00/helmet
$38.00/helmet x 42 helmets = $1596.00
http://www.ems.com/catalog/product_detail_square.jsp?PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524442588440&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=282574489160487&emssrclnk=crosssell

Bikes: The discounted price given to us by Dan from Breakaway is $259.99/aluminum framed Trek cruiser bike, and $649.99/tandem.
$259.99/bike x 40 bikes = $10,399.60
$649.99/tandem x 1 tandem = $649.99
$10,399.60 + $649.99 = $11,049.59

Total Cost: $15,400.30

Sources

Through WCSA we will attempt to acquire the majority of the funds to purchase [40] bicycles and regular funding for the maintenance of the bicycles (we will need to have at least 10% of the request from elsewhere).  Ultimately, we will work with Buildings and Grounds and Public Safety departments to collect the abandoned bikes that are left on campus after the summer term. We would then have Breakaway fix them up if necessary, have them painted, and integrate them into our program. We have created a student group called “Friends of the Bike Movement” in order to request funding from WCSA.

Legality

Prevention of Theft: In order to distinguish campus bikes from students’ personal bikes, we will paint them bright yellow. These bicycles will be readily identifiable wherever they are; this will help prevent thievery (distinguishable bikes should be easily re-obtainable by the DPD in the case that they are stolen) and help to spread the word about the program. This color-coding scheme has been popularized throughout America and Austin, Texas is well-known for its Yellow Bike Project. This is in addition to the locks and keys. We have found that in general there will be a necessary degree of trust to operate this program; otherwise it will become far too expensive for the aim.

Accountability: Students using the communal bike program will need to take an instructional bike safety course to certify that they understand all of the laws and responsibilities they take on when operating a bicycle. Students will be required to sign a waiver stating that they understand all of the above-mentioned codes of conduct and that the university is not responsible for any misfortune that may occur as a result of using a bike. There would also be readily accessible information online pertaining to current local and state laws about bike usage.

Resources

• Ohio Environment Education Fund
• Communal Bike Programs on College Campuses
• Communal Bike Programs in the News: here and here
• 1 World 2 Wheels: A Trek Commitment: organization for creating awareness of the benefits of biking
• International Bike Fund: great resources for education on other communal bike programs.
• Why Bikes Belong: a special interest group lobbying for the increase in bike-friendly America
• Emory University Communal Bike Program
• Yellow Bike Project in Austin, Texas
• Vélib Program in Paris