Patriot Bike-Share hosts launch ceremony

Marina Budmir and Tyler Orton discuss the future of Patriot Bike-Share at the program's launch ceremony. (Photo by Alex Perry.)

The Patriot Bike-Share program, which allows people to navigate George Mason University’s Fairfax campus by bike, held its official launch ceremony at noon on Tuesday, Nov. 27.

The ceremony was relocated to Dewberry Hall in the Johnson Center from the North Plaza in response to the poor weather conditions.           

Josh Cantor, the director of Parking Transportation, began the ceremony by explaining how Mason is "bike friendly," and how the program was supported by the company Viacycle and the Patriot Green Fund grant. 

"Since we had a soft launch to make sure the program could run, this was the official 'thank you' for signing up," said Tyler Orton, the bike program manager for the Office of Sustainability.

Orton and Marina Budmir, the Mason transportation coordinator, spoke after Cantor. The pair discussed the future expansion plans for the bike-sharing program, and thanked everyone that had already signed-up for the service.

When the speeches concluded, dozens of students, program members and city planners that attended the event were offered free t-shirts and water bottles.

According to Orton, approximately 100 people have signed-up for the $6 monthly bike-share subscriptions and $3 daily subscriptions. He also said that there have been 500-600 transactions for single uses of the bikes. Orton hopes that the number of subscribers will increase to roughly 400 over the next few years.

The monthly subscription grants riders unlimited two-hour riding sessions, while the daily subscriptions offer riders a 12-hour period of two-hour riding sessions. A nominal fee of roughly $1 is charged to the rider's credit card for every additional half hour.           

Cantor said that users can easily terminate subscriptions.                       

 "If you say, 'I'm not gonna ride my bike in January and February while it's bitter cold,’ then you can turn it off and sign up again in March when you start riding again," Cantor said.

There are currently four docking stations for the 20 bikes that are available at the Fairfax Campus. Plans were discussed at the ceremony to expand the docking stations to the Old-town Fairfax area near campus.

"We are trying to schedule a meeting with the city's economic development authority to sponsor bikes in the city," said Kelly O'Brien, a planner with the city of Fairfax. "We would love one of the bike share stations so that students would be welcome to drop their bike off, [then] shop and eat in the city."

O'brien said that bike locations are judged by what the surrounding area can potentially offer riders.           

"We try to figure out what's around the area that would be interesting for the students," O’brien said.

Tom Calhoun, Mason's vice president of Facilities, said that the university's goal with the program is "multi-layered." In addition to encouraging fitness and reducing the number of cars on the roads, the program is meant to help the students' relationship to the community.

"It provides students an easier way to get out into the community and in and around the campus," Calhoun said. "We can make this an extension into the city and get students into the area to pick up on things that are there."

Budmir agrees with this idea, and also feels that this will make Mason a forerunner for bike sharing programs at other universities.

"We've had other universities contact us about the program to find out more about how they could get it," Budmir said. "It's the first of its kind at a university in Virginia, and we're also the first university in the state to have a bikeshare program on campus. We're holding the torchlight and leading the rest."

More information about Patriot Bike-Share can be found at their website.