Bike rental initiative on the move; IUSA continues to push ‘5 B’s’ platform

When the Btown ticket took over IU Student Association last year, its platform consisted of “five B’s,” one of which was a proposed cross-campus bike rental program for students. Now the administration is more than halfway through its term, and the bike rental program is progressing well, senior Ben Schulte said.

Schulte is the chief of platform for the bike rental initiative.

“We’re working through the different departments of the University to figure out how a program like this will get on campus,” Schulte said.

This collaboration includes work with University Planning and Institutional Research on the development of a student survey. The survey would be sent through e-mail and used to gauge student interest in the rental program to “make sure that students actually want it,” Schulte said.

IUSA is also working with the IU Office of Sustainability and the City of Bloomington.
Schulte said some other successful programs have existed as collaborations between campuses and cities.

While attempting to develop a structural base for the program, IUSA has received proposals from outside companies to help implement the program logistically. Schulte said this will require a solid source of funding as IUSA aims to break even on the project.

Schulte explained that IUSA will need to either guarantee funding in the long term by gauging student interest or find another source of funding in order for the program to sustain itself.

“Other schools that have been successful with this have often gotten a big grant,” IUSA Vice President Jack McCarthy said.

Other sources could include previously allocated IUSA funds or an incremental fee for usage paid annually or by semester, Schulte said. Tuition increases or non-optional fees paid by students aren’t funding options Schulte favors.

“The charges will be limited to the people who either sign up for or are intending on using the bikes,” Schulte said.

Schulte also said he hopes to keep costs affordable for students.

“Obviously we don’t want to make it prohibitively expensive to the students,” Schulte said. “Our goal is to make it a very, very solid option, and if we’re charging 100 dollars a year, that’s not affordable. That’s not a feasible option.”

Senior bikes task force member Alan Hearth explained that while it might cost a nominal fee, the bikes program is important to him for a variety of reasons. Hearth’s father is an avid biker, and he sees the program as both an environmentally friendly and healthy alternative to driving.

“It’s a great project and worth everybody’s time and effort,” Hearth said. 

Hearth also saw a similar program while in Seville, Spain and thought it could be successfully implemented in the U.S.

It might seem like the program is moving slowly, but Schulte said such a large initiative takes time to implement. He is hopeful that the next administration will be able to take on the project after he and his task force have completed most of the work.

“I think that this is exceptionally large and exceptionally expensive and that if we can show enough progress, that the end is in sight, I think we’ve done our job,” Schulte said.

Schulte said his administration is driven by a desire to work for the students.

“We’re not cocky enough to think we can decide something for the whole student body, so if we’re going to spend a whole lot of money, or when we’re going to push for something that’s a really big initiative, we want to make sure that it’s set up in the best way that all students would want it to be set up,” McCarthy said.