Bike riding is not only a healthier way to travel, it also reduces the number of cars on campus and helps the environment. With these goals in mind, Stony Brook’s Environmental Stewardship Office has purchased bicycles to be shared by students on campus.
The bicycles will be located at various racks on campus that will be accessible to members of the Bike Share program. Participating students can unlock one of the Bike Share bicycles, ride it around—either on-campus or off-campus—and then return it to any of the campus racks and lock it up again.
The Bike Share program is another in a long list of sustainability initiatives by the University, for which it was recognized in The Princeton Review’s 2011 Guide to 311 Green Colleges.
“Our goal in initiating this program is to provide students with a simple, healthy way to travel and to reduce the need for automobiles on campus,” explains Barbara Chernow, Vice President for Facilities and Services. “This new program will help minimize our carbon footprint and contribute to our overall mission of sustainability.”
Initially, participating students will be chosen through a lottery system. Those who are selected to take part in the program will be required to watch a safety video and sign a release of liability form. Each participant will pay a $15 semester fee along with a $15 key and helmet deposit. Students will then receive their key and helmet. They will be able to access any of the 25 bikes strategically located around the campus. The pilot program will begin now and continue through the summer.
“We are incredibly excited about this program and hope to expand it if it proves successful,” says Amy Provenzano, Executive Director of Environmental Stewardship.
The eventual goal is to make the bikes available on March 1 each year and continue through the first significant snowfall of the subsequent fall or the end of the fall semester, whichever comes first.
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