Cal State Long Beach is preparing to launch a bike share program that will be implemented by January 2013.
The solar-powered bike kiosk will connect the dorms to the rest of the campus by providing a better means of transportation.
“You can just grab a bike by the residence halls and ride it across campus at the end of the library and they are plug and play, it’s there to take back to the dorms,” said Elissa Thomas, sustainable transportation program coordinator for CSULB.
CSULB co-wrote with the city of Long Beach to apply for a grant to start a bike share program on campus and citywide.
CSULB is working with the city to make the campus more bicycle-friendly, according to Thomas. The university has two bike lanes, one that connects the Pyramid to the College of Business Arts and one that goes behind the Horn Center.
The lack of bike lanes makes getting around campus on a bike difficult. In addition, students can get cited for riding their bikes on non-bike paths.
The university offers a Traffic Skills 101 class for bicyclists that consists of one two-hour classroom training session and one three-hour on-road training session.
To go along with the bike share program, more bikes lanes will also be added.
Many recent changes, like the construction at Lot 18, are part of a 15-year bike master plan adopted by the university.
Lot 14, the biggest parking lot on campus, will also get a large bike-pedestrian pathway.
The city of Long Beach is striving to become the most bicycle friendly city in the U.S., according to Allan Crawford, bike coordinator for Long Beach. Still, he said, there is room for improvement.
“We know we are not there but it’s an aspiration,” Crawford said.