Bike Share is a service that campus students have been asking about, according to Jennifer Morse, communications and outreach manager with the Office of Sustainability.
This fall semester, Bike Share is coming to Auburn. Bike Share provides bicycle transport for Auburn students.
Don Andrae, manager of Parking Services, is the head of the project.
According to Andrae, to use this service, a user needs to download an app.
“You’ll download an app to your smartphone,” Andrae said. “For this, the bikes are free. When you pull the app up, it will show you where the bikes are. You’ll go to the bike rack, you’ll press a button for that bike rack and it unlocks automatically. You’ll take the bike and you’ll go. There’s a GPS on the bike that identifies where the bike is going and, of course, it knows who has the bike.”
The smartphone application, which will be available for iOS and Android, will also keep track of whether the rider is still using it, and can be used even after locking the bicycle up.
Andrae said if the bikes end up in one area instead of where they are needed, they can move the bikes to where they want using trucks.
Parking Services is able to locate the bikes using tracking devices.
“We decided that the bikes will be free for up to three hours and there will be a charge for every hour the bike is used after that,” Andrae said. “The students can use their TigerCard.”
This is to ensure the bikes are returned to campus to be used again, according to Andrae.
Parking Services is the department in charge of the maintenance and repair of the bikes.
Helmets will not be provided for the bikes used for the service for sanitation reasons.
“I’d like to have it implemented by the beginning of the fall semester,” Andrae said. The bikes provided are being customized for Auburn University.
Each of the 75 bikes are branded with the Auburn AU and the University’s battle cry, War Eagle.
Students without smartphones can access the bikes using the web, according to Andrae.
Bikes will likely be available in most main areas of campus, according to Andrae.
According to Andrae, there will be bikes in the RO parking lot, the gravel lot across from Parking Services, the residential areas of campus, central campus and at the College of Veterinary Medicine.
The bike share service costs students nothing, according to Andrae.
For Auburn, the approximate cost of the total project is $90,000, and $1,200 per bike.
Morse said the Bike Share program will be an asset to campus.
“Auburn University is trying to get bike-friendly campus status,” Morse said. “It’s right in line with the goals that we’re trying to accomplish as an office. I think it’s a great resource for people on campus. I think there’s a demand for it. Particularly, we have had professors in the design department who are asking for it. They have students who have only 10 minutes to get across campus. If there was a bike share program then that would really expedite their ability to get to class on time. Personally, I’m way in favor of it. I have my own bike. I think it’s a great thing to have on campus.”
Miranda Pecot, a student who also works at the Lowder Student-Athlete Development Center, said this will help students be on time for class.
“I know several people don’t have bikes and they have trouble getting to class on time,” Pecot said. “I think it would be a good program.”
According to Andrae, he will not know who will be supplying the bikes until Wednesday, May 27.
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