September or October should be College Bike Month

I've written about how University of Utah has a Bike Week in September ("This week is Bike Week at the University of Utah," 2018), which makes sense because it is shortly after school starts, but how most universities seem to do their "bike promotion activities" in April--maybe because it is Earth Month, when the primary school year is practically over.

I did have a section on biking for transportation in the 2016 post, "Back to School #3: College."

The advantage of promoting biking to college students is that they are "impressionable" and it's a good time to develop sustainable behaviors as routine ("College towns of a certain size as an opportunity for sustainable mobility nirvana," 2018).

This leverages the interest that many universities and their students have in sustainability more generally.

-- Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education

I was on the Utah campus the other day, and happened onto their very small bike shop, which had a promotional flyer about their Bike Week, which ends today.  

They had a number of events, including free lock provision, a night ride, a biker's breakfast, and a training class.

It's exactly what a campus should be doing.

Create College Bike Month in the Fall.  Why not create a College Bike Month, as a companion event to National Bike Month in May ("May is National Bike Month too: Part 1 -- a good time to assess planning and programming," "America's Top 50 Bike Friendly Colleges and College Towns").

It should be in September or October, in order to leverage the enthusiasm of the start of the school year with the aim of creating transportational cyclists--although the Bike Week event schedule at University of Utah is a mix of transportational and recreational events, which makes sense given their audience.

Scooter parking at Bonneville Elementary School in Salt Lake City.

One reason to consider October instead of September is that International Walk  to School Day, albeit focused more on K-12 schools, is the first Wednesday of the month, October 5th--although this year it is a week later because it falls on Yom Kippur.

Although the US version is now called Walk and Roll to School Day, to recognize skateboards and scooters as part of the sustainable mobility mix.

In any case, a National College Bike Month should be created with a master list of best practice activities and initiatives, so that colleges and universities can increase their commitment to cycling for transportation, and the number of people cycling.

Bicycle Friendly University.  The League of American Bicyclists already has a Bicycle Friendly University certification program, which outlines an agenda.  It's self certified though, so it isn't particularly critical analysis focused.

Nevertheless, it would make sense to integrate this into a College Bike Month program.

Basic elements of a campus biking program 

• Bike lanes and signage programs
  
• Secure bike parking
• air pumps, repair stands
  
• (well located) bike shop
• program to provide low or no cost access to bikes (+ helmet and lock)
• support programs to get people biking
  
• participation in local bicycle sharing programs (if available)

Utah State University, Logan, Utah.  We were in Logan last weekend and briefly popped onto the USU campus.  Their campus bike shop is located at the entrance to the university, not buried in the middle of the campus like the University of Utah.  

Campus Bike Shop at Utah State University.

(In my biking-related comments on the SLC Transportation Plan, I suggested that University of Utah put its campus bike shop at the TRAX University light rail station, to make it more "multi-modal".)

They also have air pumps and a repair stand outside the shop for use 24/7.  Not University of Utah.  Neither campus has a system of secure bike parking, then again, few places do.

And in conjunction with the city, they have a "temporary signage program" outlining bike route connections between the campus and the core of Logan.  

OTOH, USU is on the crest of a monster "hill", with a grade that I would never ever want to ride up, and would have some concerns about riding down too.  They need some type of Trampe Bike Lift set up.

Although the local transit agency, Cache Valley Transit District, provides free transit, including a shuttle between the core of the city and the campus, so a cyclist could ride transit back up the hill.