FAYETTEVILLE : ‘Razorbikes’ project to offer free pedaling around UA campus
Posted on Wednesday, July 16, 2008
FAYETTEVILLE — The University of Arkansas at Fayetteville’s transit department hopes to clear clutter on campus bike racks by implementing a bicycle sharing program.
“Razorbikes” will allow university students, alumni and faculty to borrow at no charge and use 48 numbered bicycles, returning them to racks scattered around campus.
The program offers students greater flexibility in transportation, officials said.
Associate transit director Mike Seither demonstrated the program Tuesday using seven pale green Pacific cruisers, which retail for about $ 120 each but were donated by Regions Bank as “seed bikes.” Razorback Transit workers will complete the supply by refurbishing bikes abandoned on residence hall racks at the end of each semester.
“Students buy bikes and they just leave them here when they’re gone,” Seither said. “The idea was to find a use for them rather than leaving them on a rack somewhere, taking up space.” Razorbikes follows a trend of community bicycle programs that originated in larger European cities but have had mixed success in the United States.
Associated Student Government senators originally proposed the program, motivated by a desire to create alternatives to driving that are more flexible than walking to the nearest bus route at a scheduled time.
“It’s not just about sustainability,” Seither said. “On a nice day, riding around campus can be fun.” Eligible riders must sign up for the free program at the university’s parking offices after agreeing to safety rules. The four-digit lock codes are a combination of the bike’s registration number and a universal number, which will change every year to encourage new registrations.
Riders can take the bikes as far as they can pedal, but transit officials expect them to return them each night.
Arkansas cities have launched similar programs, only to find large numbers of bikes stolen or damaged shortly after making them available for public use.
Bentonville began its program in 2005 using the Police Department’s growing collection of unclaimed stolen bikes. The city’s Parks Department painted the handlebars orange and stenciled them with “Bentonville” in black letters. Less than two weeks after workers placed 16 bikes on five designated racks, all but one were stolen.
The city continues to make bikes available because they generally bring less than $ 10 at public auction.
In 1999, Little Rock made 15 flame-orange single-speeds available for public use, but about half of them disappeared. When park officials relaunched the program, riders were asked to leave their names and telephone numbers, sign a waiver saying they understood the bikes were public property, and return them.
David Mozer, director of the International Bicycle Fund, said successful community bicycle programs include increased accountability. In Copenhagen, Denmark, riders deposit coins to borrow matching bikes, armed with GPS chips that track them when they leave the city’s downtown district.
Mozer’s organization collects donated bikes from U. S. cities, redistributing them in countries such as Ghana and El Salvador to increase mobility. The number of U. S. community bike programs is difficult to track because it constantly fluctuates from thefts and a lack of maintenance, he said.
Bikes stolen from the program can still have value, helping reduce a reliance on the United States ’ “car culture,” he said.
“Even if someone steals it, it will get used,” Mozer said. “We see that as a positive.” Arkansas Tech University in Russellville monitors its bicycle program, started in 1999, by requiring students to check out one of 18 $ 380 Trek mountain bikes, signing a damage waiver and leaving a copy of their student ID. The program has few problems with thefts and damage, said Susie Nicholson, assistant to the president of university relations.
Seither admits the UA bike program may see bad returns on its good faith in its riders in the form of thefts and vandalism — but he hopes to see better results. He’ll re-evaluate the program in a year, and he may eventually consider partnering with the city to offer more bikes. “We have faith in the people of Fayetteville that they know a good thing when they see it,” he said.
To contact this reporter: eblad@arkansasonline. com
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