The training wheels are coming off as the Binghamton University Bike Share opens this Saturday for its fourth semester in operation.
The Bike Share opened in the fall of 2013 with only seven bikes. This semester, the program has 28 bicycles for students to borrow. The first seven were donated from BU Outdoor Pursuits, and others were donated by the University Police Department and Stony Brook University. Six were bought from Jamis Bicycles, a national company, using the Bike Share’s budget from Campus Life.
According to Shane Tracy, the president of BU Bike Share and a junior majoring in industrial and systems engineering, many of the bikes donated were in unusable condition with rust or missing parts, but they were repaired by the BU Bike Shop. Opened by members of Bike Share last semester, the BU Bike Shop offers free repair services to students, faculty and staff members for their personal bikes and the 28 public bikes.
“Throughout the year, we have to keep a close eye on the bikes to make sure no other issues arise,” Tracy wrote in an email. “Once they do we bring them back into the shop ASAP to fix them and get the bikes back into circulation. When we were opened for the season, if the bikes weren’t in the shop being worked on, they were being used.”
With the increased availability of bikes, usage jumped from 246 hours in the spring 2014 semester to 980 hours in the fall 2014 semester.
Students can borrow bikes by going to the information desk in the Tillman Lobby and signing out a lock key from the attendant. Bikes are distributed in four-hour time blocks, and students can borrow a helmet as well.
But according to Tracy, the Bike Share team and a group of senior engineering majors are working to create a “swipe and go” system so that students could swipe their BU ID card to electronically unlock a bike in the coming semesters.
Bike Share Vice President Markus Sher, a junior double-majoring in mechanical engineering and English, said that the final product should resemble a free version of the Citi Bike system in New York City.
“We’re looking to make something with a central kiosk, and then bike stands going off in a few different directions surrounding the kiosk,” Sher said. “It’ll be completely automated and people can use it whenever they happen to walk up to it. They can pick bikes up at one location and drop them off at another, which is much more useful and convenient than our current manual process with only one location.”
Aviv Kleinman, a Bike Share user and senior majoring in urban planning, said the kiosk would make borrowing bikes easier.
“I know signing it out by hand gets messy, so the swipe and go system would be really great,” Kleinman said. “I believe that the bike share should expand in any way that seems possible as long as they get the funding they need. Bicycles are a great way to get places in a comfortable safe efficient way, and I think bike share is wonderful.”
Currently, the Bike Share’s only station is located outside of the Engineering Building. The bikes can be taken anywhere on and off campus except the Nature Preserve, where no bikes are allowed.
Bike Share is officially run by students under the BU transportation department and, according to Bike Share Treasurer Hallie Friedman, a junior majoring in industrial and systems engineering, bike routes that students can take from Downtown to campus are available on Bike Share’s website.
“Ever since we’ve started the bike share, we’ve seen more bikes on campus,” Friedman said. “Bike Share provides students with a free alternative transportation option so they don’t have to wait for a bus or spend money on gas.”