Pantagraph.com Weather forecast, local radar and more
NewsSunday, June 29, 2008 8:03 PM CDT
Comments Comments (2) | E-mail this page E-mail this page | Print this page Print this page | Enlarge type Enlarge type | Reduce type Reduce type | Search archives Search archives | RSS RSS feeds | Add to My Yahoo! Add to My Yahoo!
ISU: Timing couldn't be better for free bike loaner program
Goals of Reggie Ride: Reduce congestion, fight high gas prices
By Scott Richardson
srichardson@pantagraph.com
Advertisement

NORMAL -- Riding a wave of interest in alternative transportation, Illinois State University officials are launching a free bike loaner program called Reggie Ride for students and staff this fall. The goals are to cut traffic congestion and cramped parking on campus, reduce fuel costs for ISU vehicles and promote fitness and an appreciation for the outdoors. The timing is good.

Higher gasoline prices are encouraging people to find other ways to get around: the ISU campus recently was linked to Constitution Trail, and Normal is hiring a consultant to map official bike routes on streets.

The ISU project is modeled after similar efforts at other universities and bike-sharing programs in cities around the world. Washington, D.C.’s Bike Share Program began this month. Paris offers 20,000 bikes at more than 1,400 stations. Chicago is considering a bike loaner program.

“Everyone is of the mindset we have to drive where we want to go, and parking has always been an issue on campus. We’d like to eliminate that,” said Mike O’Grady, ISU director of grounds and fleet operations. “We’d like to eliminate service vehicles from the environment. We are no different than anyone else, so the soaring price of gasoline has had an impact on our budget.”

O’Grady and Enid Cardinal, ISU’s sustainability coordinator, said the Reggie Ride program will pedal off with 25 bikes to start. The program will be expanded, if successful. Bikes will be available on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Each bike is painted in one of ISU’s two school colors, red or white. White bikes will be reserved for faculty and staff and stationed at high-traffic buildings. They’re meant for commuting on campus. Red bikes can be borrowed for up to 48 hours at a time by people who show valid student identification at Bone Student Center.

“It’s very easy to check out the bike for a weekend, or say a student wanted to run to Wal-Mart or the mall or to go down Constitution Trail,” said O’Grady.

Getting around

“You can walk anywhere on campus in 20 minutes, but you can bike anywhere in 10,” he continued. “To drive from one end to campus to the other would take that long, but then you have to find a parking place. We’ll have baskets (on the bikes to help carry books, brief cases, etc.) and there’ll be no issue of parking.”

Added Cardinal, “The more you can get people outdoors, the more you can get them interested in conserving and preserving what we do have, and it’s also a more healthy choice.”

And, there’s one more reason to ride bikes: “It’s fun,” said Cardinal, who cycles for recreation and commutes to work by bike.

Doug Oehler, chairman of the Normal committee that investigated the need for pedestrian and bicycling routes, gave Reggie Ride high marks.

“I think it’s excellent. The more people you get on bikes, the more visible bicyclists become, the easier it will be for all of us to get more street routes, more trails, more everything in the future,” said Oehler.

O’Grady said the idea came after ISU officials sought a better use for the bikes students abandon at the end of the school year. ISU ships as many as 130 bikes to the Normal city auction after the school stores them a year to be sure no one comes back to claim one.

“We were amazed at the number that would go to auction. We thought there has to be a better way to use them,” he said, adding he was aware bikes were enjoying a resurgence on campus. He’d once removed several bike racks from around ISU because they weren’t being used.

But beginning last fall, he was inundated with calls asking that the racks be returned. Whether from a desire to cut fuel costs or to get in shape, bikes apparently were being used more often, he said.

Other programs working

Cardinal used Internet forums to ask other universities if they’d tried anything like Reggie Ride. Some were discouraging like Western Illinois University, where officials said their honor system failed from lack of accountability. WIU let students take and return bikes when they wanted, and the bikes simply disappeared.

But Southern Illinois University’s program, similar to ISU’s, is working “fairly well,” O’Grady said. ISU’s program most resembles the one at the University of Kentucky, said Cardinal.

The abandoned bikes were sorted and the best one chosen. ISU student Mike Strickley, a bike mechanic at Vitesse Cycling in Normal and president of ISU’s new bicycling club, offered technical advice to get O’Grady and Cardinal started.

Strickley also volunteered to train ISU workers how to keep the bikes road-worthy. Though most of the bicycles originally were built with several gears, Strickley converted them to single-gear for ease of operation and to reduce maintenance.

O’Grady doesn’t foresee major problems with theft or vandalism. Regardless, the risks are minor compared to the benefits if the program ignites a higher demand for free two-wheelers, he said.

“There was a need to recycle the bikes we had, and it seemed the time was right to open this up to the campus community,” he said.

The ISU College of Applied Science and Technology and the University Health Education Coordinating Committee gave small grants to help meet the estimated start-up cost of $4,500.

“It’s truly been a collaborative effort,” Cardinal said.



Taking a ride



What: Reggie Ride program, a new, free program to loan bicycles to staff and students

When: Begins with the start of the fall semester in August

Goal: To reduce fuel costs, ease traffic and parking congestion campus, promote physical fitness

Details: Initially, 25 bikes will be available to loan. Those painted white are reserved for faculty and staff to commute on campus. Those painted red can be borrowed for up to 48 hours by people showing a valid student ID at Bone Student Center to get around campus, pedal to the store or just ride around town.

Take a look
Mark Fisher, a painter with the Illinois State University Painting Department, uses a spray gun June 19 to coat a bike with red paint as part of a university program that set aside abandoned bikes for commuters. (The Pantagraph/David Proeber)
Scott Fisher, a painter foreman with the Illinois State University Painting Department, has overseen the painting of several bikes as part of a university program that set aside abandoned bikes for commuters. (The Pantagraph/David Proeber)
Video
Most commented stories
Browse online archives
Recent issues:
Reader comments on this story - 2 total

Note: All views and opinions expressed in reader comments are solely those of the individual submitting the comment, and not those of the Pantagraph or its staff.

bookerc1 wrote on Jun 29, 2008 4:25 PM:

" Are there multiple stations for picking up and dropping off the bike? Wondering how they will keep track of who returned them, and who didn't. Also wondering if they provide locks & chains, so you know the bike will still be there when you come back out of your destination, and are ready to bike back to ISU and return it. Hope they place it somewhere easily accessible, so people don't have to drive to go pick up a bike. That would kind of defeat the purpose, wouldn't it?

Also wondering how this will work with such a limited number of bikes. What if you count on using a bike, arrive to pick one up, and find they are all checked out? Would leave you running late. Wonder if there will be some way to look up on-line if any bikes are currently available, so they don't get flooded with calls from people double-checking that one will be available before they make the trip. Also wonder if you can reserve a bike for a certain day/time, or if it is soley first come/first served. "

DJO wrote on Jun 28, 2008 6:18 PM:

" This idea is good in theory but ISU will need to ensure the borrower is accountable for return of the bike. Charlottesville, VA tried a bike loaner program a few years ago without such safeguards. The program fell apart after a couple of weeks as all the bikes were stolen.
On a side note, doesn't look like some folks at WIU take their honor system very seriously, does it? "
Add your own comments

Please read the rules before posting comments.

You must be logged in to leave comments.
If you don't have a member ID, please register.

*Member ID:
*Password:
Remember login?
(requires cookies)
  Forgot Your Password?
 
Lee Enterprises Customer Service | 301 W. Washington St., PO Box 2907, Bloomington, IL 61701-2907 | Ph. 309-829-9000 | 800-747-7323
Copyright © 2008, Pantagraph Publishing Co. and Lee Enterprises. All rights reserved. | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy