More College Bicycle Programs
13 August 2008 - 5:47am — cfiles
This time it is Ripon College doing a bicycle sharing program. The University of Arkansas is doing a similar program on a smaller scale. Peter said there is a student at Hendrix that is interested in doing this, I will try to contact him after the opening days of school die down. In the meantime however...
Is there anybody out here interested in starting a bicycle collective, if there is not already one in Conway? My thought with this is collect bikes new and old, rebuild, fix, etc. Then lend these bikes to students, and other citizens of Conway. I have thoughts on how to do this, but I cannot do it alone, is there anybody interested?
Educating Cyclists
Before we begin bicycle sharing programs, how about some bicycle education/rider etiquette classes on these campuses?
I work at UCA and was run off a sidewalk twice just today by bicyclists who refuse to ride on the street. I also can't tell you how many times I've watched cyclists ride against traffic on (and off) campus.
Any thoughts?
Absolutely
My wife works there, and rides her bicycle to and from there often; I agree with you that the riders need to be educated. Ultimately I would like to see them join one of the RideCivil events so they can learn by doing, but getting college students to attend anything outside of what they want to is difficult.
That does not mean we should give up though! I see an education program to go along with the sharing program. There are several other ways to teach etiquette; we just need to roll our sleeves up and do it. I for one would be glad to volunteer and teach. I have a few "ins" to teach some students but a few more would not hurt.
This also becomes an enforcement issue. Campus police, faculty, and the students themselves need to all be part of enforcing the rules. I am not suggesting citizens arrests; I suggest a two fold approach. First, attempt to tell the rider what the rules are (we will have a brochure soon). If that does not work, kindly call the campus police every time there is an infraction. Eventually they will take action.
It would also serve the students well if the campus police kept an eye on Donaghey, Farris, and Bruce so the riders can feel safe riding on those roads. I ride those roads often and it is tough; I completely get why students would not want to ride them on a bicycle.
So yes we need to educate. I am glad to do it, anybody else?
Chad Files - http://www.chadfiles.com
I'll help
I'd love to help in whatever ways I can with doing some education for students, especially on the UCA campus. I'm not sure I'm equipped to teach something like this on my own. I'm a bit of a newbie to cycling, and would consider myself a recreational rider at this point, but with some help, I'm sure a few of us could come up with a brief "class."
I could help with getting a room reserved to do some training, perhaps in the Student Center. I could also help with publicizing something like this. If we have an educational seminar, perhaps we could get the student newspaper and maybe even the local newspaper to take interest and write stories about it, giving us even more bang for our buck.
Also, knowing students, it wouldn't hurt if we had some sort of a prize/give away for attending this. Not sure if any area bike shops would be willing to chip in something cheap like water bottles.
Just some thoughts.
Do the campus cops have to
Do the campus cops have to keep up with anything like continuing education hours or whatever? Maybe we could put on a bike seminar for them...
Florida has a good program for law enforcement officers, along with a set of videos titled "Ride On By..." which explains how traffic and other laws apply to cyclists and why equitable enforcement against things like wrong-way riding, blowing stop signs and red lights, and running around without lights is important...
Tom
Unsure
I do not think the bicycle officers do anything like that. I can check though.
Any kind of training or workshop we can do would be most beneficial; for both students and the citizens of Conway as a whole. After tomorrow (the RideCivil event) I plan on turning my focus to organizing such a workshop.
Tom, I would really like to talk to you about becoming an instructor. I would also like to chat about the possibility of you doing a section of your Bike Commuting Workshop up here at some point. Maybe we will have some time tomorrow to chat about it.
Chad Files - http://www.chadfiles.com
I'll Help
I don't really have any thoughts but I have a pair of willing hands.
Greg Reddin
Great!
Right now that is exactly what we need...well and some old bicycles would not hurt. I will talk to some more folks that I know and see if we can organize something.
Chad Files - http://www.chadfiles.com