Salt Lake City declared 2013 the “Year of the Bike,” which means the next few months are going to be filled with festivities and events encouraging Salt Lake residents to drive less and bike more.
The U is partnering with Salt Lake County, the Utah Department of Transportation, Utah Transit Authority and the Wasatch Front Regional Council to celebrate a year they hope will be filled with more students and faculty commuting on two wheels.
The group is trying to change the image of cycling in Salt Lake City by removing barriers to biking that send commuters back to the old habit of driving to work.
“People have the impression that if you ride a bike, you need to wear spandex and have the latest, greatest, carbon-fiber bike,” said Phil Sarnoff, program manager of GREENbike, a bike share program that will launch April 8 in Salt Lake City.
The program will include more than 100 bikes, which members can use for $75 a season or $5 a day. The bikes are equipped with lights, reflectors, chain and skirt guards, a low step-though frame and a basket, so they will be easy for commuters and errand runners to ride from station to station, where the bikes will be stored and regularly maintained.
“When you see people riding in Europe, they dress like they normally would and have upright, cruiser bikes that are really nothing special. The only difference is that they choose a bike as their mode of transportation. It doesn’t need to be an overhaul of your life in order to get around by bicycle,” he said.
GREENbike hopes to introduce similar cycling patterns in Salt Lake City, aiming to decrease traffic and improve air quality. Similar bikeshare programs worldwide are producing results. The Paris bikeshare led to a 5 percent drop in traffic and a 35 percent increase in bike sales, while the Minneapolis program sparked more sales at local businesses.
Heidi Goedhart, bicycle coordinator for U commuter services, said the U is partnering in the effort to promote cycling awareness and encourage more people to ride by participating in several events the city has planned for the year.
The city will also release a new version of its Bikeways Map, which highlights easy routes that help bikers get around town without sweating too much. The new map will include U route information to ease the hilly commute for cyclists headed for campus.
Goedhart said preserving air quality and saving gas money are not the only benefits for students who bike to school.
“Cyclists also have the convenience of parking immediately in front of the building they are visiting … That’s enough to make most drivers envious,” she said.
The U has released a biking master plan and the Salt Lake City Transportation Department plans to follow suit, according to Colin Quinn-Hurst, planner for the department.
“All this is being done because city and regional leadership recognize that bicycling provides a low-cost, convenient, healthy and fun way to accomplish 50 percent of daily trips that are three miles or less,” he said.