Not having a car, but not living on campus can leave students at the University of Florida in a certain predicament.
This is where Gator Gears come to the rescue.
For all the students who don’t drive to school, but have classes spread out all over campus. This is the perfect program.
“We really targeted incoming freshman at preview, and by the end of preview all the bikes available for that semester had been rented,” said Allison Vitt Outreach and Communication’s director for the U.F. Office of Sustainability.
Gator Gears is a program where students can rent bikes on a semester basis. The bike rentals are $40 for students the first semester and then $30 the following semesters.
“Riding a bike around campus is the best mode. Especially with fall weather coming in, its enjoyable,” commented U.F. junior, Catie Flatley.
“We’re already one of the biggest bike rental campuses,” said Vitt.
The program started with 100 bikes, and those all quickly became rented by students. The program is currently looking to add around 100 more bikes.
Gator Gears as actually founded with the intention of fixing the issue of abandoned bikes on campus.
“There is the same cute huffy bike on campus I see everyday near Weimer Hall. Its been in the exact same spot since my orientation in August,” states Madison Young, junior at U.F. “It’s all rusted over, and it just looks sad.”
The home with Gator Gears is to reduce the number of abandoned bikes on campus since they all have to be returned at the end of the semester.
Gator Gears also offers free maintenance repairs for the bikes, which will also help cut down the number of abandoned bikes on campus. Bikes can easily get repaid free of cost so students can continue using them and not just leave them on campus to find a cheaper new bike.
“I think the Gator Gears program is a great addition to our campus. Its affordable for students who don’t have a reliable bike or don’t have one at all,” remarked Catie Flatley.
Anyone can sign up for Gator Gears and register for a bike, for more information and to get your bike for the semester, go to bikes.ufl.edu and click on the Gator.