Arizona State University

The perfect going-to-college-gift might be a bicycle. After all, a bike’s transportations costs are just as easy on the starving student budget as they are on the planet.   More bikes and fewer cars on campus equal less noise and exhaust fumes. Colleges and universities are taking note of the advantages with bike-commuting rather than car-commuting students. Campuses are finding that it is cheaper to put in bicycle parking ($150) than new parking space for a car (price for just one car space: $3000-$30,000). Students and their schools are also becoming more sensitive to their sustainability practices. (See how your college or university rates in sustainability with their green report card here.) 

So many colleges and universities are welcoming and encouraging students to use their bikes as a means of transportation and designing their campuses to be ideal for cyclists that the League of American Bicyclists is going to expand their Bicycle Friendly America program to include colleges and universities. Next month they will launch their Bicycle Friendly University (BFU) program. The League has done a lot to promote Bike Friendly Communities with their programs and the BFU program will go a long way in pointing the way for campuses to encourage cycling.

There are many colleges across the country who are doing it right with bold approaches to get their students on the seat of a bicycle and away from the morning jostle to find the all too rare parking space. The University of Minnesota-Twin Cities provides cycling maps for students to show the best routes through campus along the various bike lanes, and the locations of bike lockers and a place to hitch their ride (they have over 6,500 bicycle racks and hoops across campus.) Stanford University puts real effort into educating students with bike safety classes around campus and in the dorms. The School of Medicine’s Health Improvement Program (HIP) also offers classes on Bicycling, Commuting, How to get Started, How to Stay Motivated, etc. Students who take up cycling in college are likely to enjoy cycling in the decades that follow, so it’s great to see universities giving them the inspiration and encouragement now.

Win a Free Bicycle for your College Commute! 

Students at Westminster College can take a ride with a bike from the school's fleet of loaner bikes.

Seven ways that top Universities and Colleges are encouraging bicycling on campus:

1. Free Bikes for Freshmen: a handful of universities are offering incoming freshmen a free bicycle to use if they make a pledge not to drive a car to campus for the year. Examples: Ripon College (WI) and the University of New England pioneered this concept and Elmhurst College is going to be doing it this year.
2. Bike Shares: colleges are acquiring fleets of bikes that can be loaned out to students by the hour, day or week to allow them to bike as much as they need. Most colleges are discovering that a bike rental program works better than the free-to-anyone programs which sadly result in bike abuse. Colleges that have a fleet of loaner bikes include: University of Arizona, University of Colorado at Boulder, University of Washington, University of New Hampshire, Castleton State College, Westminster College, Northland College and Pitzer College. St. Xavier College in Chicago has a very modern European-style bike loan program.
3. Bike Co-ops are often student-run groups where memberships entail working in the shop. It allows for maintenance, tools and parts to be affordable for students. At the University of Idaho, you can learn bike repair and borrow bikes as needed. Students can also find a great bike co-op at the University of California at Santa Cruz and Arizona State University.
4. Bike Events for Bike Month, Charity rides or fun annual traditions such as Indiana University’s Little 500 are great ways to give an added emphasis to the benefits of cycling to college. I loved hearing about the University of Geneva (yes, in Switzerland!) which had a program called “Bike to the University” to encourage students and faculty to bike to campus. Incentives such as a team competition and prize drawing for all participants. Their faculty of medicine added their own encouragement offering cycling as a great form of exercise for better health and as a way to reduce their environmental footprint.
5. A Healthy Dose of Encouragement —goes a long way to get students enthusiastic about cycling. Stanford’s Commute Club provides an $282 annual cash incentive not to drive which can be used for bike gear, bike locker fees and the like. As the students register their bikes they get free bike lights, reflective legbands and blinking strobe lights. Helmets were sold at 50% off at the campus bike shop and a bike buddy program is in place for first timers. Evergreen State College makes it easy for bike commuters with showers, commuter lockers, bike repair stations on campus and to keep students up to date, a bike shop blog.
6. Well-designed Green Campuses with elements of Bike Friendliness are essential for campuses and some universities are doing a great job. With a great office of sustainability to lead the way, colleges like the University of Maryland are encouraging green transportation with well-designed campus infrastructure. The University of California in Santa Barbara has the TAP (Transportation Alternatives Program) which works to make cycling around campus a better experience. Michigan State University is one of those universities who have hired consultants to help design green campuses with elements for bike friendliness, which is truly the wave of a hopeful future. Even small colleges do what they can such as Bates College which converted a railroad bridge into a pedestrian and bicycle bridge so students can take a scenic route over the Androscoggin River instead of worrying about speeding cars
7. Keeping it Safe: Mount Holyoke College does what it can to prevent theft with a succesful free bicycle registration program which helps the school return misplaced bicycles to their rightful owners. Arizona State University increases its campus police survelliance and make catching bike thieves a priority, using “bait bikes” to catch thieves red-handed. They don’t dismiss the value students place on their bikes.

A student cycles through the Stanford campus on a weekend.

It’s Earth Day, the day to take stock of what we can do to in protecting the environment around us. It’s so easy to think that one person won’t make a difference, but little things can make a difference. Take plastic shopping bags for instance. We Americans throw away 100 billion of these polyethylene bags each year (only 0.6% are ever recycled.) If every shopper took just ONE less bag each month, the US could eliminate hundreds of millions of bags a year. Each household throws away many thousands of these bags: besides the plastic shopping bag, it’s the plastic packaging that products come in; it’s also the trash bags we use. Make a resolution like using reusable canvas bags and make a change in your life.

We all know that motor vehicles contribute to pollutants such as carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and nitrous oxide. One cyclist CAN make a difference by using a bike instead of a car

By using your bike instead of a car for one four-mile round trip a day for 4 ½ months, you’ll keep one ton of pollutants out of the air you breathe.  Amazingly, more than 82 % of trips five miles or less are made by personal motor vehicle. Short car trips actually are more polluting than longer trips on a per-mile basis because 60% of the pollution resulting from auto emissions is released during the first few minutes of operation of the vehicle. Is there any way we can use a bike for many or most of those short trips and leave the car at home?

Street parking for bikes in Fort Collins, CO. (photo courtesy of 21st Century Urban Solutions)

Free Parking?

The cost of constructing one parking spot in a paved lot is about $2,200 and it is nearly six times that amount to construct one parking space in a parking garage ($12,500). In that spot for one average-sized car, you can put 8-16 bikes! (The photo above shows a space that can park 10 bikes!)

Want to calculate the true cost of driving? Check out this.

Here’s a few tips for using your bike for errands and grocery shopping.

By Tara R. McKee

Today is the last day of the UN’s Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. The world is watching and waiting for our world leaders to do the right thing for a more sustainable future and praying for them not to get bogged down in a stalemate. Can we have prosperity with green energy? Can we prepare a healthier future for our children and grandchildren?

There are countries that depend heavily on the sales of their oil as a main source of their GDP, countries who keep their industries going with coal as the main source of energy, and countries that can’t seem to survive without the heavy use of their automobiles. (You countries know who you are.) Many of these countries refuse to see that we are in a crisis here. Well-founded science is tossed aside and denied. Some say that climate change is merely a natural phenomenon programmed into this planet’s environment.  If you believe that, do you truly think we can afford to keep treating the earth as we have?

Here in the good old USA, the far right love to argue that CO 2, is “a normal component of our atmosphere” and not responsible for global warming. On one hand, you have the academic work of thousands of the world’s leading scientists, and on the other, you have the word of a handful of right-wing radio hosts who get higher ratings when they say controversial things. Hmmm. Perhaps we can look at it another way. If the right-wing radio talk show hosts turn out to be correct in their global-warming-is-a-hoax theory and the thousands of climate scientists are mistaken, what is wrong with cleaning things up in the world? The world would still be a nicer place with cleaner air and greener energy. Take a look at the photo above. Seriously, people, is this the kind of air you really want to be breathing in? In many cities, there are days when the smog is bad enough that outdoor exercisers are cautioned to stay in and schoolchildren are made to stay indoors because of the bad air. Don’t you think our communities, our countries and the world should do better?

Want another argument for those who don’t buy that carbon emissions lead to global warming? Scientists estimate that half of our climate change is being caused by gases and pollutants other than CO 2, such as nitrogen compounds, low-level ozone formed by pollution and black carbon. These are the pollutants that we know are affecting our health, our forests, and our staff of life: our agriculture. Black carbon is a component of soot emissions. It comes from diesel engine emissions and inefficient cooking stoves fueled by burning coal, wood, crop residue and the like. Black carbon, which absorbs the heat from the sun, contributes to glacial melting and global warming.*

Leslie rides her bike to work in casual clothes, a quick change and she is ready for her work day to begin.

The cartoonist Walt Kelly once made an Earth Day poster with the theme, “We have met the enemy…and he is us.” We make choices everyday that can contribute to the dirtying of our air and our water, and can lead to catastrophic worldwide problems. Did our mothers not teach us to take care of our things and clean up after ourselves? Wouldn’t Mother Nature expect the same?

2010 is a brand-new year, the start of a new decade. Make a few New Year’s green resolutions that will lead to cleaner air, a smaller carbon footprint and our own good health.  May I suggest we bike more and drive less? At the very least we can try to bike or walk for most of our trips within a two-mile radius of home? Another idea: work from home if and when you can. The bike-commuting mayor of Salt Lake City, Ralph Becker said, “If every driver along the Wasatch Front** parked their car for one day a week, harmful emissions would decrease by 86 tons. Every trip counts.” Where ever you live, you can make a difference—think green for 2010!

*Why Cutting Carbon Emissions is not Enough, Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and UN Environment Program Executive Director.

**FYI–the Wasatch Front is an urban area along the Wasatch mountains in Utah which has a population of over 2 million and includes Salt Lake City, Provo and  Ogden. If you live in Utah, try taking the Clear the Air Challenge. If you live elsewhere, send us a link to something your community is doing to improve the local environment and we will happily post it.

Also–a great advocacy group for cleaner air is the group Utah Moms for Clean Air which we link here.

Kristin is ready to fill her bags with her groceries.

It’s an American cliché that we use a quart of gas to go buy a quart of milk, which makes for rather expensive milk. But wait, there’s more!  In fact, 25% of all trips are made within a mile of our homes and 40% off all trips are made within two miles of our home. It is those short, little trips we make in our car that can be such a problem: lower fuel efficiency, more pollution, and worse for our growing waistlines as well.

3 bags of groceries easily fit into the paniers on Kristin's bike.

Are we really saving time? Try this experiment: bike to the closest local grocery store while your friend drives there and time yourselves. As a cyclist, you can take the easiest and quickest way there and stay off the higher traffic roads, and you just might get there first. My friend and I tried this little experiment and on the uphill mile route to the store, she had me beat by 30 seconds. On the way back, I had her beat by the same 30 seconds, probably because she was held up in some traffic. Even if a car can beat you by a few minutes, the difference can be surprisingly small for a two-mile radius.

Kristin is able to ride her bike full of groceries while wearing her everyday clothes, there is no need to get decked out in Lycra to make a quik trip to the local grocery store.

Perhaps you’d like to commute to work someday—here is a small step forward in reducing the constant use of your car. It can be the start of a car-diet. To start with, use your bike for just half of those short little trips you take from your home. Take the bike to pick up a few bags of groceries from the store. You’ll save money on gas, yes, but you also won’t be tempted to buy a lot of stuff you don’t really need.

On her way home to fill her kids up with Pop Tarts and oatmeal! That was easy and fast.

To increase the likelihood that you will use the bike instead of the car, have it within easy reach and ready to go. Have the items you need organized so they are within easy reach: your helmet, your jacket, a bike lock, and ankle band, if needed. You can gradually give your bike the “make-over” it needs to become an “errand bike.” You might start with just carrying what you need in a backpack, then add a front basket, and finally a rear rack to which you can attach panniers, which are side bags that can carry your groceries with ease.  If you have a bike trailer, you can use that to carry groceries, not just the kids.

Think like a grocery bagger if you are repacking the groceries into your panniers. Place the heavy items like cans of food, squash or potatoes on the bottom. Protectively, place easily bruised fruit or eggs on top. I admit, I am very precise about how I pack the groceries, but when I send my children to the store, they are often more quick than careful and they haven’t cracked an egg…yet. Be careful about what you put in the front basket, a sudden jarring from the road can bounce a loose item right out. If you overload the front basket, your steering may be affected. That said, I often carry a gallon of milk in my wire front basket—sometimes as much as two gallons and I just have to deal with the stiffer steering for a mile or so. Finally, if you just have a small amount of items, you can package it up in a bag and then carefully tie onto the rear rack with bungee cords.

Next time you go to the store, take your bike shopping!

Some Fun Facts:

• Sixty percent (60%) of the pollution created by automobile emissions happens in the first few minutes of operation, before the pollution control devices can work effectively
• Americans could save 462 million gallons of gasoline a year by increasing cycling from 1% to 1.5% of all trips.
• Just three hours of bicycling per week can reduce your risk of heart disease and stroke by 50%.
• The average person loses 13 lbs. their first year of commuting by bike.

(Thanks to 1 world 2 wheels for these facts)

Danielle and Parker understand there are benefits to bike on a date.

By Tara R. McKee

Using your bicycle instead of your car to go places is often its own reward, but sometimes, there are some true fringe benefits: the Bicycle Benefits!  What are the benefits? How about this: discounts on products and services, perhaps a free dessert with a meal, a 2-for-1 offer, $5 haircuts, $2 bike tubes, free day memberships, 50% off entrance fees, etc. at participating businesses.  These are the rewards for using pedal power and wearing your helmet. You are keeping the air cleaner, the parking lot areas less congested, and setting a great example that others can follow to become healthier and contribute to a more sustainable community. There are many businesses that want to reward you for that!

Bicycle Benefits Sticker

Businesses in the community join the Bicycle Benefits program, decide on what incentive they’d like to offer and show that they are participating in the program by placing blue and white Bicycle Benefits program sticker in their window. To get your Bicycle Benefits, you can buy a sticker from participating businesses for $5, and then put it on your helmet and bike to the participating business of your choice. Enjoy the ride, save the environment and some money at the same time!

Parker and Danielle stop for a bite while on a bike ride in the city.

If you’d like to find out about participating businesses in your area or if you have a business that would like to participate go to the Bicycle Benefits website by clicking here.

We must be the change we wish to see in the world.

Monhandas K. Gandhi

Students biking to school

By Tara R. Mc Kee 

Today is the first Wednesday of October, also known as:  Bike & Walk to School Day! If you have school children, encourage them to walk or bike to their school. If they are young, walk or bike with them. It’s an easy way to push for a more livable, walkable and bike-able neighborhood and community. Schools around the country (and the world) are participating in this event which raises awareness of pedestrian and biking issues that affect the most vulnerable of our communities: our children. Some schools make it an especially fun and appealing event for the children to participate in! And some schools underscore the point by extending it throughout the year.

• Parents and parent associations can do a lot! Make it fun! Put up fun, encouraging signs or balloons along the way. Have a mini-event at the school—whatever you think will help get the students excited!

• Invite local community leaders to walk or bike with the children. There is nothing like underscoring the point of having a walkable community, by having your local politicians literally “walk the walk.”

• Want to keep it going? Encourage your school to do something year round—some have a special walk or bike to school day once a month. Our local school has designated every Wednesday as a “Walk-to-School-Wednesday.” (Catchy, isn’t it?)

• If the school administration gets behind the program, it can really succeed. Several schools in Boulder, Colorado had 90% participation on their “Walk & Roll” days. One elementary school’s principal challenged his students to arrive every day at school without a car. At the beginning of each month, he tried a new form of car-free transportation: a foot-powered scooter, a skateboard, and a unicycle. The students really enjoyed the challenge and made it their own. Last year, for International Walk to School Day 2008, they had zero cars in the parking lot!

• Keep it safe—and fun! Put together a “walking bus” or “biking bus” so the children can go in a larger adult-chaperoned group to school.

• Enlist the neighborhood’s cooperation by handing out information door to door and encouraging them in a positive way to drive especially careful during school hours.

• Safe Routes to School is a national program meant to aid communities to get the necessary sidewalks and bike lanes to make walking and biking to schools safe and appealing.  Their website is very helpful in for getting your community working on making the streets safer for children and more livable for everyone!

An example of what one school is doing for National Walk to School Day.

For more information, see these great websites: www.walktoschool.org and www.saferoutesinfo.org

Share with us! What did the schools in your neighborhood do for International Walk (or Bike) to School Day?

By Tara R. McKee

Across America, college campuses are getting frustrated with morning traffic jams and overcrowded parking issues. Many universities are coming up with a solution in the form of a bicycle. When a college encourages students to cycle on campus by providing safe and secure bicycle parking as well as improved bicycle routes through campus, the numbers of students cycling to class goes up: a rather simple solution for a university’s traffic headaches.

There are so many reasons to leave the car behind and use a bike to commute to your college classes. I’ll give you six good ones:

1. You’ll save money and that’s always a good thing! (Add up the cost of gas, the cost of parking, wear and tear on your car, and take into account reduced insurance costs with lower yearly miles.)

2. You just might get to class faster depending on the local conditions if you take into account not having to park in the outer edges of student parking and then having to walk a good quarter mile or more to class. A cyclist can often find a bike rack right near her class and be spared a long walk across campus.

3. You’ll burn more calories riding your bike than driving a car. Your heart and lungs will also become stronger and healthier. Okay, those may seem a bit obvious, but becoming more fit is a nice perk!

4. Your carbon footprint with this environmentally friendly form of transportation is a nice round zero! Contrary to what Kermit the Frog said, it can be easy to be green!

5. You can enjoy the outdoors and your surroundings more. Notice the beautiful changing leaves of autumn, the first daffodils in the spring and other subtle changes in your neighborhood. You can relax and unwind from your day on the route home—enjoy some Zen moments.

6. During your morning commute you can wake up with the exercise of your ride and clear your mind –a definite plus before your classes. Research has demonstrated that exercise increases mental sharpness. Hey, if you do better in classes as a result, it is totally worth it!

The question is, can a girl dress up and still get there by bicycle? We can answer that with a resounding “yes!” Look for a bicycle with a chain guard and fenders to protect your clothing. Dress for the changing weather and should the weather forecast be a little iffy, pack a jacket, just in case! (Your mother would be proud!)

Does your college or university have a great campus with a burgeoning or established bicycle culture? Tell us about it and send us pictures of coeds on your campus dressing for school and having fun on their bicycles. We’d love to feature and focus on one college or university each month. Look for future articles with more tips and advice for commuting by bike.