Crimson Goes Green

The wheels are in motion for a more sustainable campus at Washington State University, where students and faculty are blazing trails with two-wheel transit. WSU’s Green Bike Program kicked things into high gear this fall with the addition of 32 BIXI urban bikes and four BIXI automated docking stations, making the Pullman location the first college campus in the nation to offer an automated bike sharing system. Starting out as a pilot during the 2009-2010 school year, WSU’s Wellbeing Program purchased 40 TREK mountain bikes with a grant awarded from student fee monies. The bikes were available to students and faculty to check out free from the Student Rec Center and the Compton Union Building for up to a 24-hour period. “The pilot was extremely successful with 583 unique users logging more than 12,000 miles in 12 months,” said Jamie Bentley, environmental wellbeing coordinator for WSU Wellbeing. “However since the BIXI system has been installed, in just three weeks, the BIXI bikes have been checked out 841 times with almost the same number of unique users as there were all of last year.” Perhaps the success is due to the bike’s high convenience factor and the fact that they’re also free. With just a swipe of your Cougar card at one of four docking stations, you’re on your way. Checkout is for a 24-hour period. If you need the bike longer, there is a 10-minute waiting period after checking it in before you can check it out again. BIXI (think “bike” and “taxi”), based in Montreal, Canada, is a bike-sharing company which started in 2008 as part of the city’s transportation plan. The systems feature solar-powered rental stations and rider-powered safety lights. BIXI has established similar systems in other cities throughout Canada, Australia and the U.S., and now one college campus. With the popularity of the BIXI bikes in the Palouse, the TREK bikes are now available for checkout up to seven days at a time. Although the BIXI bikes are encouraged for campus use only, they have occasionally found their way to a trail or in town. Damage and blatant misuse haven’t been a problem with any of the bikes in the program, says Bentley. “There’s a piece of ownership there as it’s their money that initially paid for the bikes.” As WSU Wellbeing focuses on choices that improve the quality of life for their students, faculty and the community at large, the Green Bike program was a perfect conduit for a holistic approach by encouraging health and physical exercise, streamlining cross-campus transportation, encouraging bike culture, decreasing traffic congestion and limiting carbon emissions. University Recreation, a Green Bike partner, is using the success of the bike program to launch their “Crimson Revolution” campaign this year, during which they plan to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Student Recreation Center and highlight sustainability efforts including decreased energy and paper use and increased recycling. “The Crimson Revolution is aimed at changing behavior and positively impacting our community,” said Kathleen Hatch, executive director for WSU University Recreation & Wellbeing. “We had students lining up to give their ‘green pledge’ at a back to school celebration… everything from pledging to buy local, walking to school, riding a bike more, considering fair trade with purchases, etc.” As bike share programs are most successful when there are more bikes and stations available, Bentley says the vision for the Green Bike Program is to eventually expand to accommodate the population of Washington State University and the Palouse, connecting the University with the greater community. “Right now the program is only available to holders of a valid Cougar card, however we hope to change that in the future and help to create a real bike culture on the Palouse.”