Tune-ups a Winning Plan for Bicycles
Event promotes bicycle use on campus
Friday, May 27, 2005
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Durham, N.C. -- From the littlest Huffy with training wheels to a new 21-speed
racer, bicycles were plentiful on Duke’s campus Tuesday.
A one-day offer of free repairs attracted 135 bike owners, who brought in more than 150 bikes. The event was sponsored by the Office of the Executive Vice President, Duke Transportation Services and Duke Bike Advocates, a student group, as a way to promote bike use on campus and to collect information about how to make Duke a more bike-friendly campus.
Seven mechanics worked for seven hours to put the bikes in tip-top condition.
The most common repairs were inflating tires, adjusting gears and fixing brakes.
“These are little things that make all the difference between a bike being road-worthy or not,” said Sam Hummel, environmental sustainability coordinator in the Office of the Executive Vice President.
“By providing repairs, helmets and information, we can help people see their bicycles as a safe, low-cost and environmentally friendly way of getting around,” Hummel said.
“If each of the 30,000 employees at Duke shifted one five-mile vehicle trip a week from a car to a bicycle, that would be 7,000 gallons of gasoline not burned each week. So, we really want people to see this as something that has a big impact, even in little steps. You don’t have to commute by bike every day to have a big impact.”
Click here for more information about Duke Bike Advocates.
Click here for more information about environmental sustainability at Duke.
