This fall, the Student Government Association and the Campus Sustainability Initiative are teaming up to implement a new bike share program that will promote healthy living and conservation as well as offer an easy way to get around the campus and Amherst. Currently, 25 brand new maroon bikes are being assembled at the bike co-op, and three of the bikes are ready for use.
According to a press release, the UMass Amherst Bike Share Program was created to encourage alternative transportation and provide students, faculty and staff with accessible bike transportation
The idea for a bike share originally came from Amber Hewett, the former secretary of sustainability for the SGA and former Sustainability Coordinator Josh Stoffel. Claire Hopkins, her successor, finalized a formal proposal with Hewett and secured funding from the class of 2010, who donated the bikes.
Hopkins worked with Worksmen Corp., a partially solar powered bike manufacturing company that has been building bikes for over 100 years, to design the bikes front to back including the colors, style and decals that make the bikes distinguishable.
Plans are already in the works to refurbish 10 forgotten bikes for community use, according to the press release. This will bring the total number of bikes in the program to 35.
Cameron Kackley, the current secretary of sustainability, is carrying through the final stages of the project.
He believes the bike share is an important step in the right direction for a green campus, and hopes it will “give people a better view about sustainability.”
To rent a bike, interested students can go to the student government office in the Student Union and show them their UCard. A bike, helmet and lock can then be signed out for 24 hours.
For those living on campus, it provides a faster way to get to class. For those living in nearby apartments or houses, it can be an easy and sustainable way to get home between classes without worrying about parking.
UMass sophomore Kristen Silbo lived in Pierpont, a low-rise in Southwest, last year and said the bike share would have been useful for getting to her class on the other side of campus in Totman.
“It would have been helpful,” she said. “Especially since there’s only 15 minutes between classes.”
But other students are not so sure it is worth the trouble.
Once you are at the Student Union, UMass student Hannah George explained, you are just a five minute walk to most of your classes. It might be more useful if the bikes were in different spots around campus.
But Kackley has already thought of that, and hopes to expand the program to make it more user-friendly. He says if the program goes well, he plans to place bikes in all of the residential areas.
Michelle Woodward can be reached at [email protected].
