Cornell University
OP-T2-26: Bicycle Sharing

Big Red Bikes is Cornell University's student run bike share program. It is open to all active students and employees who register for the program. The program is partially student funded through the undergraduate Student Assembly and student activity fee. Cornell Facilities Operations provides the remainder of the funding. The bike share fleet includes 40 bicycles that are available from Spring Break in March until Thanksgiving break. Bikes are available at two libraries and a student residence community center. Bike must be returned to one of the three locations. The University LIbraries and Campus Life Appel Commons Service Center provide administrative support by checking in/out the bikes, keys and helmets, as well as reporting issues to the student organization. Transportation Services contributes the funding for the vendor hosted bike share management software and helps fund a student employee responsible for maintenance and safety checks. During fiscal year 2012-2013 bikes were checked out over 1600 times by 742 active users.

The bike share started in May 2011 with 20 bicycles, available for same-day check out at the main library through a web-based management system. The program was expanded with 20 additional bicycles and two additional library locations in the 2011-2012 academic year. Although designed for bike share, rental and industrial fleets, the original bicycles were found unsuitable for local terrain. This resulted in unacceptable equipment failures and bicycles out of service. In the Spring of 2013, the first 20 bikes were replaced with bicycles that have proven more suitable for our terrain. Students are currently investigating more robust management systems with electronic controlled access.