East Carolina University received two hundred lime green bicycles on Monday for students, faculty and visitors to ride on campus.
Joshua Rossnagel, external operation supervisor for the university’s parking and transportation department, says the program aims to reduce CO2 emissions, improve traffic congestion and free up space on campus bicycle racks.
“When we did occupancy data for the current bike rack usage on campus, we found that the vast majority of residence hall students would bring a bike to campus and it would never get used," Rossnagel said.
Anyone with a smart phone can locate the bicycles through built in GPS trackers. So, there’s no need for designated racks. This technology made the program affordable for the university, Rossnagel said.
He thinks the demand for bike sharing will grow in the near future, resulting in many more bicycles on campus, Rossnagel said.
Farmville also launched a bike-sharing program on Monday, with about two dozen bicycles available in the town of almost 5,000 people.