Today, 25 lucky students will pick up rented bicycles to begin the inaugural semester of the Wesleyan Bike Rental Program (WesBikes). Out of a long list of interested students, participants were selected based on where they live on campus, class year, and level of interest expressed. Participating students will rent the bikes for eight weeks this fall at a cost of $25 per bike.
Due to the high of demand for bikes, WesBikes program organizer and Chair of the Wesleyan Student Assembly (WSA) Student Affairs Committee Joe O’Donnell ’13 plans to expand the program for the following semester by purchasing more bikes. The WesBikes e-mailing list already includes around 100 students, and O’Donnell has not yet extensively advertised the program to freshmen.
“If the interest that has been expressed so far keeps up, which I have no reason to believe it wouldn’t, we could fulfill a demand for an extra 25 more bikes just from the responses that we’ve gotten so far,” O’Donnell said.
O’Donnell received several discontented e-mails referencing the selection process, but intends to give priority in the spring to students who felt they were unfairly overlooked. In order to offer a fairer selection process for future semesters, Carlo Francisco ’11 is currently working on a computerized sorting program that will take into account factors like gender, class year, and whether a student has previously participated in the program. Participants will then be selected through a more statistically randomized process, according to O’Donnell.
Funding for expanding the program in the spring, if it is approved, will likely come from the WSA Student Budget Committee. O’Donnell is also exploring the possibility of sponsorships from local businesses like Neon Deli, which would potentially purchase individual bikes for the program with their company names on them.
“I’m led to believe that we will not have tremendous difficulty finding money for expansion for this program if it’s a service that students really want to see expanded,” O’Donnell said.
Along with a Felt “Café 3” three-speed bike, each student participating in the program will also receive a helmet, lock, and tire pump. The spring semester rental period will last for a shorter six-week schedule, due to colder weather, and will cost $20 per rental.
Two participants in the fall rental period, Charmaine Chen ’12 and Chi Le ’13, are taking over leadership of WesBikes from O’Donnell.
Le first became interested in the program last spring when O’Donnell began publicizing it.
“I live in Full House on Washington [Street], and I have classes in Exley, so it’s a horrible walk,” Le said. “But apart from that, I think it’s good to have a bike so that you can explore Middletown.”
While not directly collaborating with WesBikes, student-run bike-repair group Legs Energize Get It Together (LEGIT) will be offering free bike maintenance, from fixing flat tires to complete bike part overhauls, outside of High Rise on Friday afternoons and outside of Usdan on Saturday afternoons, according to member Matt Larkin ’11. LEGIT also sells bikes for $50.
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