{"id":23698,"date":"2010-10-28T08:18:32","date_gmt":"2010-10-28T12:18:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=23698"},"modified":"2011-05-31T12:41:40","modified_gmt":"2011-05-31T16:41:40","slug":"on-campus-bike-loan-program-to-begin-soon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2010\/10\/on-campus-bike-loan-program-to-begin-soon\/","title":{"rendered":"On-Campus Bike Loan Program to Begin Soon"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"<p>Clive<\/a>
Clive Richards, vice president of USG, with bikes outside the library. Photo provided by University Libraries<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Getting around UConn\u2019s Storrs campus will soon be a little easier: a bike-sharing pilot program is set to begin in the coming months. UConn students, faculty, or staff will be able to check out one of 20 bicycles from Homer Babbidge Library and use it to get around campus for the day.<\/p>\n

The program, called \u201cUConn Cycles,\u201d will allow anyone with a current UConn ID to borrow a bike through the library\u2019s iDesk, which will provide helmets and keys for the bike locks.<\/p>\n

The program was designed by the library, in partnership with the Undergraduate Student Government<\/a> (USG), the University\u2019s Office of Environmental Policy<\/a>, and the EcoHusky student group<\/a>. USG purchased 20 Raleigh Circa 18 bikes, which are easy to use and maintain. Under the plan, the library will house the bicycles in a rack on the west side of the building. The bikes can be rented beginning when the library opens and must be returned by 5 p.m. Their availability can be checked online, once the program is up and running.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bike sharing program will help demonstrate that bicycling at UConn is a viable, healthy, and clean transportation alternative that would reduce air emissions from use of cars and other vehicles,\u201d says Richard Miller, director of UConn\u2019s Office of Environmental Policy.<\/p>\n

Student volunteers from the EcoHouse learning community and EcoHusky will check the bikes daily, and report any problems to the Tolland Bicycle Shop, where they were purchased. The shop\u2019s owner will work with and train the students on bike maintenance. The students will also maintain statistics on how often the bikes are checked out, and record the mileage from the bicycles\u2019 odometers.<\/p>\n

The UConn Cycles program is part of a larger effort to improve transportation congestion at Storrs. New bicycle road signage and markings are planned as well. Educating cyclists, motorists, and pedestrians about safety and how best to share the roads and walkways are also part of the initiative.<\/p>\n

Many universities have developed bike sharing programs, including Emory, The University of Chicago, and Yale.<\/p>\n

If the UConn program is successful, Miller says, the program can be expanded to include more bikes.<\/p>\n

\u201cA bike-sharing program is one of the transportation-related action items in UConn\u2019s Climate Action Plan<\/a>,\u201d adds Miller. \u201cSo biking is not only a healthy, and now convenient, way to get around campus, but it\u2019s also more environmentally sustainable \u2013 users will be helping UConn reduce its carbon footprint.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"<p>Jane<\/a>
Library staff member Jane Recchio, and Clive Richards, vice president of USG. Photo provided by University Libraries<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Two years ago, the University Libraries<\/a> began to explore partnerships with others on campus in an effort to achieve the University\u2019s goal of becoming more carbon neutral as specified in the Academic Plan. Earlier this year, the library recognized a natural fit with a bicycle-share program proposed by the Office of Environmental Policy and EcoHusky.<\/p>\n

\u201cHomer Babbidge Library seemed uniquely suited for the program,\u201d says Jane Recchio, a staff member at the library who is helping to coordinate the program. \u201cThe building offers a sheltered area to store the bicycles, is centrally located, and more importantly, can provide the necessary accountability through its circulation system.\u201d<\/p>\n

Accountability, it turns out, is key. In the late 1960s a bike-sharing program known as \u201cBlue Bike\u201d began under then-President Homer Babbidge. There was no formal check-out system, so anyone could use the bikes, which were scattered around campus. Unfortunately, it didn\u2019t take long for bikes to begin disappearing.<\/p>\n

The location of many of the missing bikes was discovered later, when Mirror Lake had to be drained.<\/p>\n

UConn Today<\/em> will post the program\u2019s start date once it has been determined, as well as details on how to borrow a bike.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Students, faculty, or staff will be able to check out a bike from the library for the day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[39],"class_list":["post-23698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-14 05:36:07","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23698","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23698"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23698\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37359,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23698\/revisions\/37359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23698"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=23698"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=23698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}