University of Calgary U-bike — Campus Cruisin’

University of Calgary U-bike — Campus Cruisin’

We’ve talked about bike rental programs in France, Germany, Denmark, and Britain, but don’t recall discussing one for Canada. University of Calgary’s U-bike fills that hole. Started last year, when 10 discarded bicycles were salvaged and brought back into useful service. The garishly painted yellow and red striped two wheelers are available on campus for students to traverse the University at no cost of ownership, or hire, for that matter. There can often be problems of ‘diminished responsibility’ with free programs of this nature, with users taking the facility for granted and abusing it. But it would seem this is not the case here, as the fleet has now grown to 30 bikes in the past 12 months. However, the primary objective is to promote health and the environment. The bikes are a reminder to live a healthy lifestyle and to give people a fun and fast way of travelling around campus, says Eco Club president, Stephanie Ferguson. A modest, yet seemingly effective Product Service System, that is part of the Uni’s broader Sustainability Initiative, that includes, amongst other projects the Evolve program, which sets out to reduce campus energy costs by $30 million CAD over a seven-year period. ::U-bike.