By Siel Ju
Originally published in Southern California Public Radio's Blog

That’s thanks to the brand new UCLA Bike Library, which started renting out bikes to students earlier this week. For $45 a quarter, any UCLA student can be a proud temporary owner of a tricked out Felt cruiser bike — complete with front and rear fenders, front and rear lights, a rear rack, and a cup holder. A similarly-equipped Felt bike would cost $550 to buy — and wouldn’t come with the complimentary bike lock, combination lock, and helmet UCLA’s providing to borrowers.

Jealous about the sweet deal Bruins are getting on bikes? Well, the UCLA students ARE paying for the UCLA Bicycle Library. The money for the program comes from The Green Initiative Fund, created two years ago by a student vote that raised student fees by $4 a quarter in order to fund student-initiated sustainability projects.

Right now, about six percent of UCLA’s off-campus students currently get to campus by bike, according to Sirinya Tritipeskul at UCLA Transportation. Of course, some of the 10,000 on-campus residents too get around by bike and take advantage of the 2,757 bicycle parking spaces on campus, but Sirinya didn’t have statistics on that population. “They’re probably mostly walking or biking or skateboarding since most don’t have cars,” she added hopefully.

As of yesterday, 9 of the 50 bikes had been rented out. If you’re a UCLA student, act fast to get one of the remaining 41 at UCLA Outdoor Adventures Community Bike Shop, on the first floor of the John Wooden Center. Contact the shop at (310) 206-1252 or oa@recreation.ucla.edu to make a check out appointment — then take a leisurely bike ride down to USC to show off your new snazzy bike.

Photo of Felt Cafe 8 Deluxe bicycle from feltbicycles.com; a fuzzier photo of one of the 50 UCLA Bike Library bikes with the Bruin stamp can be seen at Be a Green Commuter

Published: Wednesday, October 27, 2010

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