Student Association Vice President Joyce LaLonde said she knows the bike share program has been a key SA initiative for some time and is proud it is ready to be shared.

The bike share program will officially launch Monday at noon outside the Schine Student Center. The event will culminate the work that LaLonde and her predecessors have worked on, and LaLonde said she is thrilled that their work is ready to be enjoyed by students.

“I am looking forward to using the service and seeing others use it as well,” LaLonde said. “The bikes will be a neat way to explore downtown with friends, adventures to Green Lakes on a weekend, head to the doctor for a checkup or get from home to campus.”

Attempts to launch the program have been ongoing across the past three SA administrations, since the 2014-15 academic year when Boris Gresely and Daniela Lopez were president and vice president, respectively. LaLonde said Lopez was the person who crafted the idea.

“The bike-share program came as a personal goal of the vice president of the 58th session, it was under my platform when running for office,” Lopez said.

Lopez crafted a pilot program in spring 2015 where SU students could rent one of six bikes from Archbold Gymnasium. Lopez said the work she did during her time in office was “simply a seed,” and that the program would be successful if work still went into it.

Former SA Vice President Jane Hong succeeded Lopez and took control of the bike share program. Hong said she knew the bike share trial had been a success, but also knew that it could grow.

“The demand was high, proving that our students were looking for other means of transportation,” Hong said.

Under then-President Aysha Seedat during the 2015-16 academic year, one of Hong’s goals was to establish the bike share program permanently and to locate it in a central place on campus.

“I wanted a bike share program that would enable students to explore outside of our university community,” Hong said.

The bikes for the program are from Mello Velo Bicycle Shop, a local store run by Steve and Sara Morris.

Mello Velo is providing SA with 10 bikes, eight of which will be available for undergraduate students to rent for 24 hours. The other two will remain at Mello Velo as a backup, LaLonde said.

The bike rental is free for the day as long as it is returned by 10 a.m. the next day, said Dave Sargalski, director of the office of student activities.

“Students can reserve the bikes through the SCPS office,” Sargalski said. “Students will need to fill out and submit a reservation form, along with a liability waiver, in order to check out the bikes.”

Each bike will come with a U-bolt lock, LaLonde said. During the unveiling event, there will be representatives from Mello Velo that will share safety information regarding bike safety and security. Additionally, officials from SU’s Department of Public Safety will discus how to keep bikes safely locked while on campus.

The bikes are immediately available, but they will not be on campus for long this semester.

“The program will be weather-dependent, but we anticipate the program operating mid-March through October,” Sargalski said.

While the weather aspect is a potential drawback, LaLonde said student safety should come first.

“There are so many pleasurable and practical uses that these bikes have for so many people,” she said. “Better get good use out of them before the snow comes.”

Published on September 25, 2016 at 9:41 pm

Contact William: wgmuoio@syr.edu