News

Restored bicycle program keeps free bikes on campus

Encouraging alternative transportation for a greener UMaine

By Sam Cohen

Posted on Sept. 24, 2007, at 12:00 a.m.

A new program introduced by the Green Campus Initiative is providing members of the campus community the opportunity to rent bikes free of charge. The program, known as ReCycle, has already loaned eight bikes to students and faculty members. This program is another way for GCI to spotlight their message of reduce, reuse and recycle at the University of Maine.

Second-year mechanical engineering major and GCI Coordinator, Michael Parker, is happy with how the program has progressed. “It’s quite successful so far; those bikes would have been a wasted resource otherwise,” Parker said.

The Orono Police Department collects around 50 derelict bicycles every summer. After a six month waiting period the bikes become state property. If they remain unclaimed, then they are given to GCI. According to Parker, over a quarter of the bikes are reusable.

Parker was able to go through the collection this summer and select 8 bikes to fix up for the ReCycle pilot program. He said he looked primarily for bikes with frames still in decent shape. Anything else wrong with the bike could be fixed by salvaging parts from the other available bikes. He then removed most of the gears to create a single-speed bike.

“It’s easier to maintain a single-speed bike and it removes one more possible failure mechanism,” Parker said. The bikes were then given a blue paint job, a new lock and were ready to go.

Students and faculty can rent the bikes for a month at a time.

“I was matched with a bike that met my needs. We were able to choose from a mountain, road or BMX bike. [Parker] asked for our height and planned usage for the bike, so I got just what I was looking for,” said sophomore Warren Taylor, an undecided major.

So far, feedback about the program has been positive.

“The ReCycle program is a great way to zip on campus quickly without having to find a parking spot,” Clay Kirby, associate scientist for the UMaine Cooperative Extension, said. “I think as more people take advantage out of the ReCycle program, we’ll see more and more parking spots open up.”

The current renters of the bikes may experience temporary relief from having to find parking on campus, but, according to ReCycle renter and biochemistry graduate student Kara Soule, the effect won’t be felt for the rest of the student body unless the program is able to expand significantly.

“I don’t know how much it will help due to the fact that there are only eight bikes available right now,” she said.

Based on the early demand for the bikes, Parker said an expansion could be ready by the beginning of next year. The size of the expansion is limited by how much time and energy the GCI staff can devote to fixing more old bikes.

“I got 10 e-mails in the first two hours after posting information about the program on Firstclass,” he said. “After I got 20 e-mails I unsent the advertisement.” Due to the limited number of bikes there is already a long waiting list for people interested in renting.

Renters of the ReCycle bikes are asked to sign a release to the university agreeing that any damage or loss of the bike will result in a fee. Failure to return a bike will cost the renter $100. According to Parker, this is necessary in order to generate a sense of ownership of the bikes.

“It is more effective in keeping the bikes in good condition. The bikes come with locks and you give your MaineCard number so if anything goes wrong, the program will charge you for it,” Soule said.

This is different from the Green Bike Program sponsored by the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity. The Green Bike Program involved the release of a large number of bikes around campus available for anyone to use. Many of those bikes have since been ill-treated. “I don’t think the Green Bike Program provided enough ownership so the bikes got abused,” Parker said.

So far, Parker said he is happy with ReCycle. “It’s been a big success and I look forward to expanding in the future,” he said.

GCI is planning on furthering their efforts by creating workshops to teach students how to fix old bikes.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 24th, 2007, 12:00 am. You can follow any responses to this article through the RSS feed.