Virginia Berg & Amy Poppinga

A bike-sharing program has been set aside by the Students’ Association until the organization can study the logistics of the project further and gather more resources.

“We only have 10 bikes right now,” said Eric Haiar, senator for the College of Arts and Sciences, in the Sept. 28 meeting. “I think we should postpone it until we can put it under a different budget-line item and until we have more bikes.”

Bike-sharing programs have sprung up in cities and college campuses around the country, and SA senators had hoped SDSU could start their own program later this fall.

“We took a look at several of our peer institutions and determined that this is something that we should try,” said Ryan Stee, at-large SA senator. “And this is a perfect way to get around the parking problem.”

While many other campuses in the area, like Augustana College in Sioux Falls, have bike programs, the program at SDSU would have started out as a pilot with 10 bikes this fall. It would have started at the dorms and then moved outward from there.

“This is a program that we are going to need to monitor to make sure we can get all of the kinks out of it before taking it onto a larger scale,” said Stee. “Eventually, if everything works out, we may expand it to include commuters, too.”

Several senators expressed concern in the Sept. 28 meeting. These senators said the program should wait until more than 10 bikes are gathered so the program can be rolled out in a big way. Others said the program might do better if it was started in the spring.

“It’s getting cold and people will be riding their bikes less in the next few weeks,” said Michael Preszler, senator for the College of Arts and Sciences.

In the end, SA senators voted unanimously to table the bike-sharing pilot resolution. Some senators suggested that a committee be formed to study the program so that a pilot could be implemented this spring.

Despite the issue being tabled, several senators still will work on the sharing project, saying it could help SDSU become more like its peer institutions in the services that it offers.

“There is definitely a need for this program with the amount of bikes on campus,” said Matt Tollefson, president of SA. “This shows that students do not mind biking on campus.”

#1.881427:1581727849.jpg:bike1.1.jpg:Logan Soper, junior electronics engineering technology major, rides his bike back from class, a popular mode of transportation on campus. :Travis Entenman