The Bike Share Program is a free bike rental service for UMass Amherst students, faculty, and staff. The program is run out of the Student Government Association office in room 420 of the Student Union, and the bikes are located at the covered bike racks that are outside the Student Union. The bikes were donated to the university by the Class of 2010, and were purchased from Worksman Cycles Company. Purchasing the bikes from Worksman Cycles was a choice that was made with sustainability and environmental issues in mind. The company’s factory is located in New York City, so a minimal amount of fossil fuels was used in the transportation of the bikes from the factory to campus. Furthermore, Worksman Cycles is dedicated to reduce its carbon footprint; according to its website, (www.worksmancycles.com), the company has installed solar panels that supply 25% of the factory’s electricity and has converted all of its lighting to high-efficiency light fixtures.
The goal of the Bike Share Program is to provide the UMass Amherst community with an easy, affordable, and sustainable mode of transportation. The process for renting a bike has been designed with easiness and accessibility in mind. To rent a bike, come to the SGA office (room 420 in the Student Union) with your UCard. While you read and sign a liability waiver, an SGA member will log your information and retrieve for you a helmet and a key. You are then free to take the bike that you are assigned. To avoid late fees, be sure to bring the bike back before 4:00 pm the next day, or Monday at 4:00 pm if you took the bike out on Friday. As for affordability, as I said before, the program is free for anyone with a UCard. This will give students who don’t own a bike, or who could not bring their bike to campus, the opportunity to enjoy a bike on campus or in the Amherst area. Finally, the program is designed to reduce UMass’s carbon footprint by reducing the reliance on automobiles, and thus fossil fuels, on campus. Students, faculty, and staff will be able to ride a bike around campus instead of driving a car or taking a bus when walking is inconvenient.
For Bike Share updates, be sure to like the UMass Amherst Bike Share Program on Facebook. Contact Cameron Kackley for more details.
Also be sure to check out this map of bike rack locations on campus!