By the end of the month, Syracuse University students will likely be able to freely check out and use bikes from Archbold Gymnasium, thanks to a pilot bike-share initiative being organized by the Student Association and various SU departments.

Officials plan to have bikes available by March 30 as long as road and weather conditions permit, said Rick Martin, an analyst for the program. While the bikes will be free to use, students will have to pay fees when bikes are late, lost or damaged.

The bike-share program is a pilot program that will run for six weeks while officials gather more information about how to make the bike-share program successful in the future.

“There’s no sense building something complex and expensive, only to realize that you’ve implemented the wrong solution to your problem,” Martin said.

Officials will be using the feedback they get from students to learn more about what kind of bikes students want, what sort of bike-sharing program makes the most sense and if there is a demand for this kind of program, Martin said.

“It’s hard to get meaningful feedback about a program that only exists on paper,” Martin said. “So we want to put a small pilot program in place and get some real-world reaction from students.”

Officials have not ruled out running programs during the summer or fall semesters, but want an opportunity to re-examine the program and make any necessary changes after the pilot, Martin said.

In addition to SA, departments participating in the pilot effort include the Sustainability Division, Parking and Transit Services, Public Safety and Risk Management, Recreation Services and Students of Sustainability.

The Sustainability Division wants to promote bicycling as a clean alternative to fossil-fueled transportation for SU students, Martin said.

“More students are bringing their own bikes to campus and that’s great,” said Martin, who works in the Sustainability Division. “But we’d like to have a good option for folks who don’t have their own bicycle available on campus.”

One of the driving forces behind the program has been Daniela Lopez, vice president of SA and a senior political science, policy studies, and Spanish language, literature and culture triple major.

Lopez said that one benefit of the bike-share program is that students won’t have to walk across campus.

“We are one of the only schools that do not provide such service to the students,” Lopez said. “Even our neighbors at ESF have a program.”

The State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry’s bike-share program, which was established in 2013, provided a model for SU, said to Scot Vanderpool, an SU Parking Services Manager.

However, the SUNY-ESF program required a $20 yearly user fee, unlike SU’s planned version. Melissa Fierke, a SUNY-ESF environmental and forest biology professor involved in SUNY-ESF’s bike-share program, told The Daily Orange in October 2014 that the school’s program was met with some challenges, primarily getting people to use the bikes.

Fierke cited the $20 user fee and the high number of SUNY-ESF students who already owned bikes as reasons for the program’s slow start, and said she thought a similar bike-share program might fare better at SU.

Published on March 4, 2015 at 12:01 am

Contact Thomas: tjbeckle@syr.edu