Yellow bikes provide campus transport

Are you tired? Are you sick of walking to class everyday?

Well now students don't have to. Within the next couple weeks, the Yellow Bike Program is going to be putting out yellow bikes for students to use.

"The bikes are for all the students," said Grant Schnell, a graduate assistant who coordinates the Yellow Bike Program. "It's really thought of as a community bike. When students need to use a bike on campus, just pick up a yellow bike from a bike rack and take it to class or wherever else you need to go on campus.

"It's convenient, it is a great means of alternative transportation and you can take them all around the St. Cloud campus. Students are utilizing the bikes more and more each year," Schnell said.

The St. Cloud community has been asked to donate bikes they don't use to the Yellow Bike Program so students can benefit from them.

"The St. Cloud community has been great at donating bikes," Schnell said. "We put ads in the paper and we still get calls from people about donating bikes. People still want to donate their bikes for this great cause. The St. Cloud community has been very positive about this."

The program started with an Eagle Scout Project and has developed into the success it is with the help and support of SCSU Outdoor Endeavors, Campus Recreation and SCSU Office of Sports Facilities.

"I have been working here since 2004," Schnell said. "This has been one of the best years for donations of bikes. In the last month, we have received 15 to 20 bikes. We will scatter 15 bikes when the season starts at random bike racks around campus. We have five back from last year's, so there will be plenty of yellow bikes around campus for students to use.

"A lot of the bikes we work on were neglected. We have to lubricate the bikes so they shift properly. We have to make sure the brakes are working properly and that the tires are fit for mobilization, and then we send them to get painted."

Four people from Outdoor Endeavors operate on the bikes before they are sent to Kevin Coleman, who works for SCSU's maintenance department, to get painted yellow.

"This is my second year painting bikes," Coleman said. "I work for St. Cloud State and I paint anything they say that needs to be painted. The bikes don't take long to paint. It would probably take me three hours to paint 15 bikes.

"I think this program is good for students. They use the yellow bikes whenever they are available and they can take them any place on campus that they need to go."

The yellow bikes can be damaged during their duration out on the bike racks.

"If a student sees a yellow bike that is damaged, all they have to do is call Outdoor Endeavors or bring it down here so we can fix it and put it back out there," Schnell said.

Students, like Carl Locker, benefit from the program.

"I use my bike a lot now that it is nice out," said Locker, 19, who is a bike-riding enthusiast. "I like riding to and from class, and also ride aimlessly just for the fun of it. I use my bike if I have a tight schedule or if I really need to get somewhere. The Yellow Bike Program is a very cool idea and I think that the students will benefit from it a lot."

The Yellow Bike Program only asks for bikes in the spring, but takes bikes all year round.

"We store the bikes during the winter and when the time for them comes again, then we get them back out with the new bikes we have been working on," Schnell said. "There is a demand for these bikes. If the campus stays friendly towards the bikes, then we can put more out in the future for campus use."