URIde COMMUNITY BIKE SHARE PROGRAM

Overview
History of URIde
URIde Advisory Board
Funding from Campus Compact

URI 101 Bike Repair class, taught by David Fastovsky

Overview

URIde aims to provide a fleet of recycled bikes, free of charge, for use on campus by students, staff, and faculty. The community bike share program is an easy way for the University to serve as a model and provide leadership in one area of sustainable living. We encourage students, faculty and staff to use bicycles rather than cars because, as Geosciences professor and URIde faculty advisor David Fastovsky points out, "biking reduces energy use, improves air quality, decreases pollution, and improves health all in one deft stroke."

We aim to increase appreciation of bikes. Bikes can provide a viable solution to transportation and parking problems; they are exercise machines, stress reducers, and community builders. Bikes are one way to encourage people to think about sustainability, helping people connect the dots related to oil, automobile and highway subsidies, pollution, climate change, health issues, and stress.

We hold bike repair sessions every Tuesday from 6:30 PM - 9 PM in the bike barn on East Farm. All are welcome. No experience required. Contact afon4156@postoffice.uri.edu for more information.

Click here to download map of bike racks on URI Kingston Campus in PDF format

click here to view the Rhode Island Bicycle Laws

History of URIde

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URIde, the URI community bike share program, grew out of the successful Fall 2001 Honors Colloquium, "A Just and Sustainable Future: Overcoming Barriers to Change." Tim Beatley of the University of Virginia, one of the presenters at the colloquium, introduced the idea of public bike share programs from his experience in Europe. Alli Fong, a student and avid cyclist, was taken with the idea and urged the creation of a similar program at URI.

During the Fall 2002 semester, a freshman class taught by Deborah Grossman-Garber, Director of the Office of Student Programs in the College of the Environment and Life Sciences during Fall 2002, adopted the bike share program as its service project. Students in this class researched location and numbers of bike racks on campus, came up with the name URIde, and a program logo of a ram riding a bike. Students also conducted individual interviews and focus groups about the viability of a campus bike share program. Results of the interviews and focus group discussions showed that there was extensive student interest in a bike share program, with the caveats that there must be enough bikes and "hubs" so that it would be easy to locate and use bikes. Based on the positive results, the program moved forward. Students and program staff solicited for bikes. With publicity from the URI press office, bike donations began to roll onto campus and freshman students and upper classmen mentors participated in bike repair classes on Thursday evenings. David Fastovsky, a Geosciences professor knowledgeable about bike repair, actively engaged students in cleaning and repairing donated bikes on Thursday evenings.

Others on campus have been supportive of the nascent program. When a place to store bikes became a major concern, Dick Horn, Director of the URI Transportation Center, came to the rescue. He has loaned a garage at the back of the center, an ideal space for the bike program because it is easily accessible. Facilities Services has provided wiring. The Recycling Coordinator, Nancy Hawksley, and her student workers contributed time clearing the garage for URIde's use. A heated barn at East Farm serves as a repair garage.

URI's Communications Office has provided publicity about the program, leading to donation of over 100 bikes. Chip Yensan, Director of the Office of Residential Life, has contributed funding for the program. Members of the University Community have donated bicycles, time, and encouragement. Rhode Islanders, many of whom are graduates of URI, have come forward with bicycles, small cash donations, and expertise.

The program began in earnest in September 2002. We are still in the process of making the program operational, attending to the nuts and bolts of collecting, cleaning, and repairing bikes. In order to repair these bikes we need to purchase more tools, materials, and equipment. The project's faculty coordinator, David Fastovsky, continues to instruct students in bike maintenance and repair. Two URI graduates have also agreed to offer instruction in bike repair and to help students clean and maintain bikes.

 

URIde Advisory Board

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We have formed an advisory board comprised of students, faculty, staff and community members to help address program administrative aspects, including questions about helmet requirements, bike regulations, and liability. Members thus far include:

David Fastovsky, Professor of Geosciences and Faculty Liaison to URIde
Martin S. Hellewell, Community Representative
Allison Fong, Student
Anne Gregson, Safety and Risk Management
Deborah Grossman-Garber, Director, Office of Student Programs and Academic Outreach
Lorraine Keeney, Coordinator, Office of Sustainability Programs
Dennis Nixon, Associate Dean, CELS

Meetings of the advisory board are held weekly.

Funding from Campus Compact

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Alli Fong applied to the Campus Compact, a consortium of colleges and universities interested in service learning, and received a $500 grant in December 2001 to help supply tools, refreshments for the bike repair sessions, and books and videos and about bike repair. The major focus will be on continuing to build a community of people involved in the URIde project and committed to a sustainable life style.
 

 

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