Published: November 23, 2009 10:28 am      

Bike sharing program in works at FSU

FROSTBURG — Zach Bensley likes to ride his bicycle around the campus of Frostburg State University, but it’s not always easy.

Bike paths don’t exist, and bike racks are hard to find.

“The campus as it is right now isn’t very bike-friendly at all,” said Bensley, a senior, who’s spearheading an effort to improve the situation.

A $2,000 grant from the FSU Foundation’s Annual Fund will help Bensley develop a bike-sharing program to make pedaling around campus more accessible and appealing — and not just for students.

The objective is to encourage faculty and staff to consider alternate modes of transportation, as well. The big-picture goal: Reduce the number of cars on the road, thereby reducing carbon emissions, traffic jams and wrecks.

“We don’t need more parking spots,” said Bensley, an urban planning major who’s interested in sustainability projects. “We don’t need more cars.”

A new concept for many Americans, bike sharing has been around for decades, with the first programs starting in Europe in the 1960s. Originally, the programs worked sort of like a library, with a fleet of bicycles available to be checked out, and presumably returned, by anyone who needed them.

“It was very much a European thing, but universities and cities have kind of picked up on it,” said Bensley, adding that early on, theft was an issue that technology has mostly resolved.

“Usually the way it works is there’s a hub, sort of like bike racks, that’s solar-powered, where the bikes are secured,” said Bensley, who envisions eventually setting up, perhaps, four hubs on the FSU campus. “You can check out a bicycle with a swipe card and use the card to check it in again.”

More than 70 colleges and universities across the country have bike-sharing programs today, and cities such as Boston and New York are developing programs. Some programs, such as Washington D.C.’s, require users to pay a small fee.

Bensley hasn’t worked out details for Frostburg’s program yet. He’s getting some help.

Professors and students in two classes — Kara Rogers Thomas’ Sociology of the Environment, and Hank Bullamore’s Internal City Patterns — are getting involved.

“I am a bicyclist and I think it's a great way to travel, so I'm pleased to be able to contribute to and promote this program,” said Rogers Thomas. “Similar programs have been successful on other campuses. Given that FSU is committed to sustainability and health, I think it's a great initiative.”

Bensley plans to seek additional grant funding from other sources, though the $2,000 award from the FSU Foundation will get the project off the ground. The Foundation’s Annual Fund awarded a total of $85,000 to 24 university projects, including Bensley’s, earlier this month.

A 2007 survey showed that close to half — 49 percent — of FSU students either walk, bike, carpool or take public transportation to campus on a regular basis. About 18 percent of faculty and 12 percent of staff said they use those forms of transportation regularly.

Contact Kristin Harty Barkley at kbarkley@times-news.com.