Texas A&M Recognized as a Bike Friendly University
From KAGS
By Aleksandra Bush
Published: November 10, 2015
Texas A&M has been named a bike friendly university. The school is being recognized by the League of American Bicyclists for their transportation initiatives to better the cyclist community on campus. KAGS HD News Reporter Aleksandra Bush shows us what the university has been doing to earn a bronze award from the league.
Randy Rios says he rides bikes every day.
"Every freshman I know bikes to school. If you live on campus, you definitely bike to school. Even if you don't live on campus, you'll still get here faster biking," says Rios, a Texas A&M student.
Texas A&M University transportation services estimates there are about 11,000 bikes on campus every day. This semester, the university's bike lease program even sold out of bikes- convincing the school to purchase more bikes for the spring semester.
"Engineering, education, encouragement, evaluation in planning and enforcement. The university needs to address all five of those areas to make the campus community safer and better for biking," says Ron Steedly, the Sustainable Transportation Manager at Texas A&M.
Texas A&M is on more than 5,000 acres. students who bike to school can easily use one of their 14,000 bike parking spots.
"Increased our bike lines, bike routes, shared use paths as well," says Steedly.
"I think the bike lanes and then the parking are definitely the plus side to biking when you can," says Rios,
The university also has nine bike maintenance stations, including the hub, where for a $5 free students can use tools to fix their bike.
"Students can do anything from air up a tire to fix a flat to replace their bottom bracket. all the tools they need to use are here," says Jason Kurten, the director of Outdoor Adventures at the University.
"I definitely think Texas A&M deserves it's title as a bike friendly campus," says Rios.
Texas A&M transportation services says they will continue to build on it's transportation initiatives and hope to eventually earn a platinum award from the league of american bicyclists. Students interested in trying out cycling can use the universities bike borrow program, where they can use a bike for a day or over the weekend.
