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CARLO NASISSE
Cycling on Campus
AS UGA BIKES, SO BIKES ATHENS
Kevin Kirsche steps into Jittery Joe's Roasting
Company for an interview, the bicycles hang-
ing from the rafters of the building seem to
move with him. They sway in the wind as he
walks past. Their wheels turn softly as he speaks. They hang,
motionless, as he sits down.
Kirsche is, after all, a bike man—and not just a cyclist.
Building on the work of the local alternative transportation
organization BikeAthens in the late 1990s and early 2000s,
Kirsche has been cooking up big plans for the Athens cycling
scene over the past 12 years.
In May 2008, Kirsche's ideas for a more bikeable Athens
were still two-dimensional. He, along with University of
Georgia Campus Planning Coordinator Ben Liverman and
Materials Manager Al Jeffers, had just published a 39-page
report detailing strategies and recommendations to increase
bicycle use on UGA's main campus. But Kirsche, then a campus
planning coordinator himself, knew the report alone was not
going to create change. "There's been an ongoing discussion
for years about the need to update and improve the bicycle
network on campus and in the community going to and from
campus," says Kirsche. "It's really hard to make progress when
it comes to infrastructure."
Nearly three years later, the ideas in the report have not
come to fruition; rather, they've taken new form. In 2010,
just two years after the report was published, Kirsche took
the position of director in the newly established UGA Office of
Sustainability.
"It was overwhelming. It's a tall order: increase sustainabil
ity on campus. But I would say bicycles have been a priority.
One of many priorities!" he laughs.
Liverman, who still works as a campus planner, believes
there is even more need for improvement in bicycle routes than
when the report was published. "There's been more expansion,
and the town has gotten denser since then," he says. 'This is
something the public should be attuned to."
The new approach, Kirsche says, relies on that type of com
munity attunement. But specifically, it involves student input.
If it weren't for student involvement, Kirsche points out, the
Office of Sustainability would not exist. UGA's Green Fee, which
totals $3 per student per semester, funds over two-thirds of
the office's budget. "[The Green Fee] was totally initiated
by students. It received high voter turnout; it passed at a
time when there was a moratorium on student fees," he says.
"Students want this, and they're starting to be vocal about it."
For Amal Stapleton, co-owner of Ben's Bikes on Broad
Street, it's refreshing to watch students rally behind something
as progressive as improving the cycling network in Athens.
Stapleton, who previously lived in Santa Cruz, CA, which has a
sizeable cycling community, feels Athens has all the equipment
to emulate the culture of such a city. "I think there's a huge
alternative transportation scene here already," he says. "But
the cycling community could really grow. We need co-ops, we
need to refurbish old bikes, and we need to get more people
on bikes. That's basically the mission [of Ben's Bikes]."
Initially, refurbishing old bikes for common use seemed like
a good plan, says Kirsche. "We thought about just fixing up
bikes for public use, just leaving them around campus without
really a home base." But once he started doing more research,
he reconsidered. Finding old bikes to restore would be easy,
he says. But without the resources to repair the bicycles, find
them when students were finished with them or make sure they
were returned, not stolen, Kirsche feared the plan would not
be successful. "Managing the bikes was the main concern. We
were scared we'd have to go find all the bikes at the bottom of
every hill," he says.
So, Kirsche came up with a new, but similar, plan. Inspired
by cities like Denver and Boston, Kirsche came up with what he
affectionately calls the "Departmental Bike Fleet," a bike-share
program that will allow students to "check out" bikes at spe
cific stations and return them at the end of the day. The pilot
program, which will begin this summer and be in full opera
tion by fall 2011, will equip the ecology department and two
residence halls with bikes for transportation around campus.
If the program is successful, Kirsche hopes to provide bicycles
for every department on campus, as well as all residence halls.
"We're shooting for places that
students will return to a lot.
This program can't be success
ful if it's not convenient," he
says.
Even if the pilot program is
successful, Kirsche admits, the
problem of transportation to
campus—as opposed to merely
on campus—remains. But he
hopes the Departmental Bike
Fleet will help create a culture
of cycling at UGA that will
influence both the university
and Athens-Clarke County to
be more accommodating of
cyclists. "We need to simulta
neously work to improve bike
networks, but infrastructure is
costly," he says. "I think we
need to prove that accommo
dating bicycles is a worthwhile
investment before we can
expect action."
Lara Mathes, the university's assistant administrative direc
tor of facilities planning, believes a shift toward a culture of
cycling at UGA can help pave the way for a changed approach
to transportation in the community at large. "There are so
many amenities [in Athens] that are not accessible by bicycle.
Grocery stores are a good example. Earth Fare is bikeable, but
challenging for student budgets," she says. "Making the uni
versity bikeable is the easiest place to start. The university
is a perfect place to influence behavioral change. It offers an
amazing catalyst."
A changing mindset and corresponding activism among
university students are the catalysts it will take to replace
expensive parking decks with bike racks, clouds of exhaust
with breathable air, gas money with money to fund the Office
of Sustainability. "Gas is getting expensive," Kirsche murmurs,
looking absentmindedly down Broad Street from the porch at
Jittery Joe's. "Maybe that will help. I just know if we wait 'til
the circumstances are perfect, it's not going to happen."
Progress takes time. And Kirsche is interested in both the
progress of the university and the progress of Athens as a
town. "The university is an incredible tool," he says. It is a
coalition of thousands of young people shaping their own
lives, and in the process, changing how Athens operates. A
revolution has to begin somewhere, and 34,000 students isn't a
bad place to start.
Kirsche is turning the wheels. Little by little, fleet by fleet,
the bicycles are rolling off of his desk, down the hallway and
into our town. Be prepared to share the road.
Bryan Barks
Save Time and Gas! Live @ 909!
Spacious 1, 2, 3, 4 BR Lofts & Flats
Cardio Center • Controlled Access Community & Parking
909 E. Broad Street, Athens, GA
(706) 227-6222
www.909broad.com
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APRIL 20, 2011 FLAGPOLE.COM 35
