Tar Heel Bikes program celebrates expansion

Two UNC seniors have seen their Tar Heel Bikes program expand across campus in the past year, but their ultimate goal of seeing the bikes around town is still a ways off.

Seniors Akhil Jariwala and Danny Allen are planning to host a launch event in the lobby of Morrison Residence Hall on Friday from 1 to 4 p.m. to celebrate biking culture and raise awareness about their program. They are inviting students to enjoy music, doughnuts, giveaways and a photo booth featuring pictures with a Kona AfricaBike, the bike offered by Tar Heel Bikes.

The pilot program, in its second year, allows students to check out a bike temporarily. Currently, the fleet of 30 bikes is available to residents of Ehringhaus, Craige and Hinton James residence halls, but is expanding to Morrison Residence Hall this Friday due to increased demand.

Jariwala said in its first year, the bikes were checked out 80 percent of the time and provided 5,000 rides to students.

Tar Heel Bikes raised $40,000 from the Parents Council, the Renewable Energy Special Projects Committee, a Strowd Roses grant and funds from the Residence Hall Association to start the program.

But the total annual cost of maintaining the Tar Heel Bikes is only $12,000, including labor. The ReCYCLEry — a Carrboro-based nonprofit — works with Tar Heel Bikes to maintain the bikes.

“Biking is an extremely efficient mechanism of public transportation. It’s a lot more efficient than buses or a light-rail system in terms of ride per dollar,” Jariwala said.

The pair hopes to continue the program past the pilot phase, and incorporate more residence halls, off-campus apartments and eventually the towns of Chapel Hill and Carrboro.

“Bicycling really expands a student’s world to the outside of campus,” said Austin Whitehead, co-president of the Carolina Bicycle Coalition.

The Carolina Bicycle Coalition advocates for several area cycling groups and Whitehead said he supports initiatives like the Tar Heel Bikes program.

Whitehead said his organization also aims to give a voice to bicyclists on campus and ensure their needs are being addressed. Improvements the group would like to see include better bicycle parking, on-campus resources for bicycle maintenance and repair, safer bicycle pathways and a bigger bike share program.

Jariwala said UNC has one of the largest bike share programs in the nation. Allen said Duke and UNC-Greensboro currently have fee-based bike rental, while N.C. State is mirroring the Tar Heel Bikes program.

Students like Austin Glock, who used Tar Heel Bikes last year as a freshman living in Craige Residence Hall, have found the program beneficial. He is excited for the program to expand to Morrison.

“As soon as it gets to Morrison I will be jumping on that groovy train.”