The Fountain

The bicycle share program will begin after Spring Break.

The first four purple bikes that will be used in the program were introduced yesterday during Green Week events on the courtyard in front of the Student Center. Those and other bikes will be available April 1 and can be checked out free from the HPER Center.

The Student Government Association has spent a total of $5,000 on the program.  Of the total amount, $3,600 went to the physical plant to help build racks for the bikes and pay for other related construction.  The remaining $1,400 went to Conway Advocates for Bicycling (CAB) to help supervise the project and provide the tools for building and refurbishing the bikes.

UCA's Bike Program

Speakers at the introduction of the program yesterday included sophomore class president Jessica Gambill and Conway Mayor Tab Townsell. Gambill discussed the check out process. Townsell stressed the importance of the program and its effect on Conway. UCA’s bike program will help promote Conway’s initiative to have a “bike friendly community,” Townsell said.

President Meadors had been scheduled to attend the event but wasn’t there.

The bikes will be made available for all students, Gambill said. The bikes will be equipped with a lock and a light.  Students can check out the bikes for up to one week.

Political science professor and CAB member Dr. Sujith Kumar said that commuter students also will be able to participate in the program.  Students don’t have to stay on campus with their bikes.  They can ride the bikes to grocery stores and other Conway locations. Dr. Kumar said that eventually the program will have a fleet of 25 mountain and street bikes available for students.

The Ride, a bike shop in Conway, has been helping CAB.  If you have old bikes or bike parts, you can take them to The Ride and they will donate them to CAB to build more bikes.

A slide show of other Green Week activities can be seen here