Emory Report
September 15, 2008
Volume 61, Number 4

More reasons to ride

 • New bike share stations are now open at the SAAC and the Dobbs University Center. Within its first week, 135 bikes were checked out of the SAAC station.

• Want to ride on the weekend? Bikes can be checked out seven days a week at the SAAC and DUC bike share stations.

• Buy any 2009 Fuji model bike for 2008 model prices if you order by Oct. 1.

• Emory Healthcare employees get a special $50 gift certificate good at Bicycle South, a free helmet, u-lock, and rear light when they purchase a bike through bike.emory.edu.

• Bike Emory meetings are the third Wednesday of the month at the Dobbs University Center. Next meeting: Sept. 17, 6 p.m., DUC 363.

For details, visit www.bike.emory.edu.

 

    

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September 15, 2008
Expanding Bike Emory adds spin to commuting

By David Payne

The innovative commuting program Bike Emory is entering its second year in high gear, including the debut of a Fuji bicycle that was custom-designed for the campus, based on feedback from the program participants.
The Fuji Palisade 1.0 comes in “Emory Blue,” has a sleek, retro look, and features a rack for carrying books and 21 gears to power across the university’s hilly terrain, along with wider tires to glide over bumps. The Fuji Palisade is exclusively available through bike.emory.edu, where a range of Fuji bikes are available to members of the Emory community at deeply discounted prices until mid-October.

“Bike Emory supports the University’s transportation and sustainability goals,” says Jamie Smith, senior program associate of the Clifton Community Partnership and director of the Bike Emory program. “We want to develop a great bike culture on our campus, because for every person who chooses to bike, that’s one less car on the roads around Emory.”

Launched in August 2007, Bike Emory grew out of the Clifton Community Partnership — a University initiative to improve the quality of life within a roughly three-mile radius of the campus. Emory partnered with national bike maker Fuji Bicycles and locally owned Bicycle South to design the program, which is the first of its kind in the nation.

In addition to the discounted bike offers, the program includes mobile on-campus bike repair, classes in bike safety and group rides. For those who live too far away to commute to Emory by bike or don’t own one, the program’s bike share component allows them to hop on a borrowed bike for jaunts around campus.

The bike share feature began in April with a fleet of 20 bikes that have been checked out more than 300 times during the summer months. The bike-share fleet more than doubled in September to bring the total to six bike checkout stations and 50 available bikes.

“Over the coming year, we’re going to keep expanding, adding even more bike-share locations and more bike racks and other facilities,” Smith says.