Free Bikes For Students Who Pledge Not To Drive

BIDDEFORD, Me. -- When Kylie Galliani started at the University of New England in August, she was given a key to her dorm, a class schedule and something more unusual: a $480 bicycle.

The goal, college and university officials said, is to ease critical shortages of parking and to change the car culture that clogs campus roadways and erodes the community feel that comes with walking or biking around campus.

"We're seeing an explosion in bike activity," said Julian Dautremont-Smith, associate director of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, a nonprofit association of colleges and universities. "It seems like every week we hear about a new bike sharing or bike rental program."

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Comments

[RightWingMarine]

I believe I would rather have the $480 so I could put it towards gas. I'm not going to bike anywhwere because I don't want to and helmets looks stupid.

I wonder if they gave the parapalegic kid a bike too?

[degenerate1991]

Same. I live in a dorm, and walk most places (a. I don't have a bike and b. Biking in Mobile isn't my idea of fun, or safe). However, when break comes, or I have to go across town, I crank up the car and drive. Inexplicably (if proponents of public transportation are to be believed) it actually costs more for me to ride the bus than to drive a car. ( I drive an 18 year old Honda Accord, made in the U.S.A., which gets 30 miles to the gallon, and parts, on the rare occasion that something breaks, are cheap.)
I haven't bought gas for about a month (the last time I drove home, about 400 mies). I might put a gallon in this weekend, or just run on empty a few more weeks.

[Frankenreich]

Don't you wear the helmet as a marine? Do it.

Throwing good money after bad towards gas is not good. We have new technologies that can replace gas entirely. I'll put $480 to that. Or even to reduce the gas use.

I biked 200 miles. Get over that hill.

[walk0nwalls]

Inexplicably they banned bikes on my campus.

[Semaj51]

Well, another reason for tuition to raise next year. And $480 seems kind of expensive just for transportation around campus. For that same amount, you can get four "Huffy" bikes at Walmart.

[Myshkin57]

If you know anything about bikes that are used daily, you know that those Walmart Huffys break quickly, repairs are next to impossible because they use non-standard stamped parts and the bearings wear in no time. You will get more than 4 times the usable life from a $480 bike than from a $120 Walmart Huffy.

[Frankenreich]

Surely you can get a used bike for almost nothing.

[Exusian]

Tonight, Oct 21

On PBS Front Line

"Heat"

[JuniorNorman]

There are electric bike kits for students that have climb really long hills.

[billofgoods]

A $480.00 bike? sounds like the kids are being ripped off for the bikes the same as they are for their books

[rjmiller]

While not too many schools have these programs, a lot of cities with schools do. For example, when I was at Georgia Tech in Atlanta we all got bikes from Decatur yellow bikes. Bike coop and sharing programs are a great resource for students and other people that can't afford/don't want cars.

[MajorKong]

Some of us just couldn't afford a car when we were in college.