Student group hopes to keep bikes on campus
Faced with the possibility of reduced bike access and storage on campus, student group SC for Alternative Transportation has dedicated its efforts to making sure students never find out what a bike-free campus could look like.
Wrong turn · SC for Alternative Transportation suggests that USC install bike paths on campus. Campuses such as UCSB have more than seven miles of bike paths and 10,000 parking spaces. - James Watson | Daily Trojan
SCAT co-president Rachel Finfer, a senior majoring in policy, management and planning, said her organization views the university’s current actions as unnecessary and irrational.
In a bicycle safety forum last week, Charlie Lane, associate senior vice president for Career and Protective Services, presented recommendations to ensure safety for bicyclists and pedestrians on the main parts of campus.
Lane said one option is banning bikes on Trousdale Parkway and Childs Way between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. Some of the rationale behind eliminating Trousdale’s bike racks lies with the university’s concern for aesthetics, Lane said.
Alumni and donors found the racks unappealing and recommended their removal, he said.
“We will bring alternative policies to the Department of Public Safety and the administration,” Finfer said.
Senior co-president Charlie Furman, a cinema-televison critical studies major, fears pushing bikes to the periphery will increase congestion, accidents and theft.
“I don’t want to see an increase in accidents because of a higher concentration of bikes,” he said.
Finfer says the best way to protect campus pedestrians from dangerous bikers is not to ban bike riding but to educate students about safe biking habits. SCAT plans to develop an online bike safety course with this goal in mind.
“Bikes are efficient and safe,” Finfer said. “Bike racks can be painted and you can make them pretty.”
According to Finfer, the course will discourage bikers from multitasking while weaving through pedestrians and cars.
At the forum, Lane suggested implementing mandatory pre-orientation bike courses like AlcoholEdu and perhaps making bike safety classes a requirement for students who commit bike violations.
Furman also stressed the importance of efficient infrastructure.
He said SCAT suggests the university provide better facilities for parking and riding bikes on campus.
SCAT is currently discussing solutions with graduate students from the USC School of Policy, Planning, and Development about improving conditions for bikers.
SCAT also envisions the development of bike paths to separate pedestrians and bicyclists.
“You can fit all these bikes in a small area; other schools do,” said Robert Foster, a senior majoring in mechanical engineering and a member of SCAT. “The key is organization. You just have to separate pedestrians from bikers.”
Many universities across the country offer bike paths and secure parking places to students. The League of American Bicyclists recognized UC-Santa Barbara this year for having more than seven miles of paved bike paths and more than 10,000 bicycle parking spaces.
Infrastructure and education are the two cornerstones SCAT will focus on while looking at the university’s actions. The organization plans to hold an emergency meeting Wednesday to discuss the issue.
UCSB’s bike paths are terrible. I saw more accidents and congestion during the only year I was there than I ever have at USC. Keep it the same, it’s nice
Oh come on. Look, I know how rude some bicyclists can be and I’m all for enforcing a course or something that students must pass to bike on campus, but to complain about the racks is really silly. Yes, USC is a beautiful campus, but the key word here is “campus”. Seeing bikes parked outside buildings at a college is very normal. If anything, we need more racks so that bikes don’t spill out into the sidewalk when people don’t have a place to put them. THAT, I can agree, needs to be rectified.
I’m all for a bike ban. I broke my collarbone this summer which causes me a great deal of pain when walking, I have to wear a sling which makes it VERY obvious I am injured. I have been hit my bicyclist not once, not twice but THREE times. Not only are the majority of the bicyclist rude, but the bike racks are a disgrace to USC. USC looks like the place where bikes come to die, we have thousands of god awful, disgusting bikes littering campus. USC is a beautiful campus, don’t let these selfish people ruin it!!
There’s got to be a compromise here. I agree that many students don’t respect the rules of the road when it comes to biking and that it’s a wonder there are not more accidents. However, this is a college and bikes are an excellent means of alternate transportation, one that I depend on every day. The whole student body shouldn’t have to suffer because of bad bicyclists. Why not repeal the bike ban and instead require a course for all students to complete that details bike safety and have stricter penalties for things like violating pedestrians’ right of way and riding on the wrong side of the traffic?
These students have no idea on whats going on around them. They ride across the street on their bikes on to on coming traffic!! Really?! Yes If you were to stand out by gate 4 on Jefferson and Royal when cars are trying to leave you’ll see students just ride on the wrong side like its nothing skateboards included. Something needs to be done about this. I’m all for a bike ban just because students don’t know how to ride and pay attention at the same time. Then when they got off their bike they’ll just leave it anywhere. I was at gate 5 last week, and a student got off their bike and left it in the middle of the pathway on McClintock on the narrow side so you had people that had to walk out into the street just to get around the bike. So I took the bike and moved it around the corner out of the way so people could walk by. You’ll see kids on bikes that will not stop at stop signs and the only way they will stop is if a car is coming and looks as if its not going to stop. Yes this is college and yes this is the real world so why when students come on to campus they feel like they are no longer in the real world?
It’s about time someone is taking on the University’s ridiculous policies on bike riding. Everyone knows that the only thing the bike bans are doing is increasing the traffic on the smaller paths, and wasting more money on all the useless DPS officers yelling at people. And since when are bike racks ugly? This is a goddam COLLEGE! Deal with it.