Valuable Bike Information for Incoming UA Freshmen

With an ever growing campus and student body, owning a bike to get between classes and around town is becoming an increasingly good idea and a necessity for some.  At the same time, biking around campus has never been more difficult given the construction, lack of bicycle parking, and crowded roads and walkways.  With the number of students enrolled approaching 25,000, up 5,000 from just 3-4 years ago, it is no surprise the campus is undergoing some growing pains.  With that in mind, here are some useful tips for students looking to bike on campus:

1.  Register your bike.  This helps the campus realize how many people are actually biking and will encourage them to budget more money for bike infrastructure.

2.  Don't give up.  Lots of students buy bikes, ride them once, and give up due to steep hills, lack of parking, and other issues.  Explore campus, use this site and others listed below to find hidden bike racks and better routes to get where you need to go.  Give your legs a couple weeks to get used to the hills.

3.  Learn the rules.  Find out if you can keep your bike in your dorm room or apartment.  Dorms on campus are one of the main places lacking sufficient parking spots.  Wear a helmet, bike on roads and trails when possible, dismount in busy pedestrian areas.  Get lights for biking after dark.

4.  Buses have bike racks.  If you live a long way from campus, you can ride the bus and bring your bike to help you get from one side of campus to the other between classes.

5.  Check out Razorbikes a free bike-loan program on campus.

6.  The maps below show locations of parking spots and popular biking routes through campus.  Click to view the bike routes map in Google Maps so you can see the legend. (Red = steep or busy, Green = less steep)

7.  Make your voice heard.  There is a perception among some in the administration that there is plenty of bike infrastructure in place on campus and this couldn't be further from the truth.  If you have trouble finding a place to lock your bike or don't feel safe on the roads around campus with no bike lanes let people at Facilities Management and the Transit and Parking Department know.

8.  Stay up on the construction closures on campus

Sites with information on biking on campus and around Fayetteville:
City of Fayetteville Trails and Greenways - Maps, Rules, Tips
Office of Campus Sustainability
Bicycle Coalition of the Ozarks

For more information on biking on campus check out my other articles:
http://trailsofarkansas.blogspot.com/2012/01/biking-on-campus.html
http://trailsofarkansas.blogspot.com/2011/10/bikes-on-campus-at-ua-fayetteville.html

View Campus Bike Routes in a larger map

Click for Larger Version