LMS Post Response to Free Bikes on Campus

The following was made in response to the concept put forth in this article from the NY Times online concerning universities making bikes more accessible to students to cut down on the use of cars on campuses nationwide. That original topic began discussion on bikes being available to the masses in urban centers like Paris and this is my portion of the response to that string.

Like Paris, Barcelona has an amazingly popular system of public use bicycles with the self-service system of payment and bike release. I did an entire photoset of the bike racks in both systems with historical landscapes behind them last fall. I really don't see why this is not more adaptable to NYC or other U.S. cities. I feel like public perception of these things in the United states is the largest barrier, which is a sad excuse for this system not thriving here as least in major urban places.

As for the use at colleges...I wish this had been an option at my undergrad. We were not supposed to have cars on campus but everyone did. We also did not have a very friendly system for bike storage which ranked as a large reason why people just did not bother. There were no racks at school buildings or even dorms, however, leaving to thefts, and less effort by administration as they stressed the whole campus is all walkable (People still drove though.). I think I smell an alumni email to my undergrad coming...

Does anyone know what happened to the petition for more bike racks at Higgins? Of all the buildings at Pratt, that one should be leading the way on this topic.

Bikes for use in Paris, November 2007.