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After a year-long hiatus, Blue Bikes are back at the University of Maine under a new contractual monthly rental program by the Green Campus Initiative (GCI).
There is a wait list of about 50 names of students interested in borrowing one of the 15 Blue Bikes. The bikes become available from the end of November until Dec. 1 or until the snow starts. The popularity of the program came as a surprise to some, including GCI Coordinator Michael Maberry.
“I knew people were either going to love it or hate it, but I never thought the program would be so popular,” Maberry said.
Students checking out Blue Bikes must sign contracts that require each borrower locks the bicycles to a rack to prevent theft and, after a month, return it to the GCI offices in the basement of Androscoggin Hall. Borrowers can renew the contract each month.
GCI added the time limit to the contract after summer 2009, during which borrowers were allowed to keep the bikes all semester. GCI requested the bikes back, but several borrowers decided they would rather keep their bikes in lieu of returning them. By signing the contract, borrowers agree to be held responsible for any serious damages. Bikes not returned or severely damaged cost borrowers $100.
The Blue Bikes have all been donated. At the end of every year, Public Safety confiscates abandoned bikes and gives them to GCI. Two mechanics from the Cyclist Club perform maintenance on the bikes to make sure they are in top shape.
While the program was operated by Pi Kappa Alpha and prior to that by UMaine’s Facilities Management, bicycles painted blue or green were available free throughout campus.
The bike program, designed to be a green commuting alternative to help ease UMaine parking problems, has been on campus through different managements since 2001.
In previous years, the bikes were available on an honors system basis and were left unlocked. The bikes were abandoned throughout campus, leaving them vulnerable to damage that would make them unsafe to use. By spring semester of 2009, GCI took over and revamped the Blue Bikes program to fix its problems. Its members chose to leave the bikes blue.
One person was able to borrow a bike for the entire summer semester. Some of the bikes were not returned. The borrowers decided to keep them. When the bikes are brought in at the end of every month, routine maintenance is performed.
“I was really upset Green Bikes was canceled last year,” said student Stacia Oparowski. “I would have liked to have been able to go on a leisurely bike ride or get to class faster.”
UMaine student Christopher Michaud said he “definitely would have borrowed a bike when I lived on campus.”
Christina Steltzer said she feels a bike would be too much effort to use.
“I would want to use one on trail rides, but I wouldn’t want to use it to get to class because I wouldn’t feel like unlocking and locking it,” Steltzer said.
Stephanie Kiss, a third-year student, believes the university should adopt a plan similar to Europe’s Green Bikes. In countries such as Italy and Spain, citizens swipe a credit card at a hub and borrow a bike for as long as they wish, returning them to any Green Bike hub around a city.
The hubs could be a way for the university to generate income in tough economic times, Kiss said. They could also be beneficial to students who don’t want to drive.
CORRECTION:This article originally identified a fraternity who at one point ran the green bikes program as Phi Kappa Alpha. The fraternity was in fact Pi Kappa Alpha.
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