The Rideau River Residence Association (RRRA) is initiating a bike-sharing program this summer.
The program is tentatively set to begin in August, according to RRRA vice-president (administration) Arif Jaffer, who is organizing the program. He said they hope to hold the full launch in the second week of September.
Bikes will be rented by the day to residence and off-campus students, as well as faculty members.
The cost will be five dollars per day for faculty and off-campus students, and free to residence students as part of their payments to RRRA through their tuition, according to the RRRA website. Yearly memberships are also free to residence students and $20 for everyone else.
A $20 safety deposit is required to take out a bike, Jaffer said.
“The bike-share program is not for profit, but if we need more money to break even or for new bikes, we may raise the price,” he said.
Prospective bikers can sign up to rent a bike through the RRRA website or by visiting the office, Jaffer said.
There are helmets available at the office to take with the bikes, Jaffer said. There are currently 10, but he said they hope to add more.
To date the program has 16 bicycles donated by Carleton’s department of university safety, which are currently being refurbished by a student at a low cost, Jaffer said.
The bikes donated by university safety are those that have been abandoned in campus bike locks.
“Every year we go around and tag all the bikes that are on the racks. We then wait a week and the ones that still have tags are deemed abandoned,” university safety community liaison officer Mark Hargreaves said.
University safety keeps them for a month in case the owner returns before refurbishing and donating them, Hargreaves said. Bike racks are for “daily use,” he said.
“We find a few dozen abandoned bikes each year,” Hargreaves said.
RRRA’s bikes will be stored in the bike locker by Glengarry residence and will be recognisable by their red bells and red seat covers.
The bells have been donated anonymously, and the seat covers by Ottawa-based group Citizens for Safe Cycling, Jaffer said.
The decision for red bells and seat covers was made to make the bikes recognizable to the program.
Jaffer said Carleton has had bike-share programs in the past, but they were shut down because the bikes were not recognizable and were stolen.
RightBike, a bike-sharing program in Westboro and Wellington West, partnered on RRRA’s project by providing advice on repairs, locks, and how to make the bikes identifiable.
They have also offered to provide workshops to students on repairing the bikes.
Jaffer said the project is his “own personal platform.”
He said students can get lost in the routine of going to class, eating, going back to class, and then going back to their res rooms. He said he wants to remind students about what’s around them, like the canal, Gatineau hills, and Hog’s Back Park.
If the program is successful, Jaffer said RRRA may extend the program to the Carleton community in Ottawa South.
