Courtesy of sa.rochester.edu
After some detours and bumps in the road, City Cycles rolled out a new website on Tuesday, April 10 to pave the way for increased usability.
A program under the Students’ Association Projects & Services Committee, City Cycles is a free bicycle lending service for UR undergraduates and members of Goergen Athletic Center.
The revamped website provides a full self-service system for students to check availability, reserve equipment up to an hour beforehand, receive email reminders of reservations and pay fines.
According to SA President and senior Bradley Halpern, the site also incorporates an educational component to ensure that users know how to use the program and equipment which should alleviate some issues from the past. Halpern pointed out that thefts caused by unfamiliarity with U-locks as one of the aspects of the program that will benefit from the educational component. He is, however, confident that the updated website will “minimize problems without any additional burden on the end user.”
City Cycles Coordinator and senior Louisa Gag expects the changes will make the program “convenient” for users.
“We’ve been working hard all winter to work out the hitches and glitches of last fall’s launch,” she said. “We expect the website to continue to expand and include more components, and all feedback is welcome.”
SA Projects & Services Committee Chair and sophomore Camila Fernandes said that such feedback is necessary in order to adapt and expand the program.
She mentioned the possibility of installing a City Cycles kiosk at Goergen to maximize user accessibility.
The website’s long-awaited additions have already garnered praise from the UR community and ignited students to take advantage of the City Cycles program.
“I think it’s a fantastic improvement to the old City Cycles website,” sophomore Justin Kallman said. “I’m really attracted to the new feature that informs students how to properly handle and secure the equipment, which, in turn, allows riders to enjoy the bikes for years to come. I’m glad the program’s mission of encouraging students to take a more active role in enjoying and exploring their off-campus surroundings has remained unchanged.”
City Cycles was founded in 2004 by Andrew Hall ’07 and Adam Baratz ’07, who sought to create a touchstone for university bicycle libraries that could be implemented at other schools. Hall advocated City Cycles at last year’s regional National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association conference held in Ithaca, N.Y.
For more information, or to reserve a bicycle, visit sa.rochester.edu/citycycles.
Gould is a member of the class of 2014.
