Bikes are expensive, but that can no longer be the excuse for why you don't have one.
Bicycle Auburn is a city group that hosts cycling tours, installs bike racks at local establishments and provides bike rentals to students.
The Borrow-a-Bike rental program began in May 2008 and is becoming more popular to students.
It lends the use of helmets and bicycles to not only Auburn students and citizens, but also visitors as well.
For those ages 19 and older, renting a bike is free, and only requires a valid form of photo identification and completion of a waiver form, which is available on site.
The rental period is two weeks, though the rental may be renewed for longer if done before the period has ended.
"That's absolutely fabulous," said Caitlin Perry, sophomore in biosystems engineering. "I knew that our campus was working on something, but it wasn't working very well."
Perry was unaware of the city's program and said she would take advantage of it.
The Auburn Bicycle Committee was established in 1986 by the Auburn City Council.
It came about after a discussion about cyclist concerns in the community.
The City Council elected to appoint citizens to a bicycle task force to improve the cycle-friendly aspects of the city.
According to the City of Auburn's website, www.auburnalabama.com, the Council created the Bicycle Committee for various reason.
Its job is to assess the city's needs for safe bike travel, develop bicycle-related projects, identify and implement those projects as city priorities and encourage bike-friendly cooperation between public agencies, businesses, schools and citizens.
In the past, the Bicycle Committee drew up the Auburn Bicycle Network Map, which is responsible for most of the bike paths around the city today.
In the beginning, it was also responsible for the implementation of a bike safety course for all fourth-grade students in the city of Auburn.
In the future, the committee has plans laid out for a bicycling component in the Auburn 2020 Plan.
More recently, the Bicycle Committee was responsible for installing bike racks at local establishments around the city in hopes of improving the accessibility of cyclists to local businesses.
As of January, the committee had installed racks in three key student and citizen locations.
A rack has been installed at the South College Street locations of Winn Dixie, World Gym as well as The Gnu's Room.
World Gym Sales Manager Varetta Johnson believes the bike racks are an asset to the gym, and in the year they've been there, they have brought more business, and the customers seem to like it.
"People use it a lot, because people bike here a lot," said Kalah Palmer, barista at The Gnu's Room.
Palmer said the racks were installed in the fall, and the establishment saw an increase in business, especially during the school year.
"They really appreciate it being there," Johnson said.
The City of Auburn's Bicycle coordinator is Brandy Ezelle, who can be reached at 334-501-3029.
To check the availability of bikes, contact the Public Works Department at 334-501-3024.
The office is located at 365B on North Donahue Drive.
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