In Newfoundland, despite the rain, drizzle, and fog, biking continues to be a viable mode of transportation. For most of St. John’s, according to Google Maps, after driving, biking is the second fastest option to get to campus. While it is also a good option, taking the bus can mean long wait times to board the bus or even for transfers. Riding a bike to the university can cut your 48-minute walk or 39-minute bus ride down to 15 minutes.
If you usually drive, there are plenty of upsides to biking instead. No need to search for a parking spot at MUN, as there is an abundance of free bike racks around campus, including some in indoor spaces. MUN also has a few bike lockers at two locations on the main campus and one on the Signal Hill campus. Furthermore, biking saves money, as there is no need to buy gas, or carry out expensive repairs. The only repair with biking is regular tune-ups which are a lot cheaper than on a car.
From a sustainability point of view, biking helps reduce your carbon footprint in a manner that adds up over time. For instance, more cyclists mean fewer cars and less reliance on motor vehicles, reducing pollution. From a health standpoint, biking improves physical and mental health. As you bike, you burn calories, reduce your risk of type 2 diabetes, lower your LDL cholesterol, and improve cardiovascular health [see also], while also easing feelings of stress, depression, and anxiety by promoting the release of endorphins in your body. Furthermore, biking has been shown to improve and preserve cognitive abilities in adults. Therefore, cycling is a long term, sustainable, and affordable means of transportation with a broad range of benefits for the present and future generations.
Memorial University needs to embrace, endorse and promote biking
To make biking more attractive at MUN, more initiatives are needed. Encouraging biking on campus means less demand on the limited car parking spaces. Bikes also provide a suitable alternative for many students whose accommodations are too far away to walk to school but close enough to bike. Promoting biking is promoting an active lifestyle, healthier student and staff will translate to better productivity in general.
Promoting biking at MUN could help new out-of-town students who do not own a car. New arrivals often have to get around town to find a place to rent, shop for household essentials, and sort out administrative matters. Being able to borrow or rent a bike when they are new in town can make settling in a lot easier.
Having access to a bike gives new arrivals the freedom to get around town while learning to navigate the limited bus system in St. John’s. Overall, promoting biking at Memorial University will be a win for everyone, on many levels. A few pro-bike initiatives have popped up at the university such as last summer including e-bike rentals.
The e-bikes cost $80 for 3 hours and had to be picked up and dropped off at the company office. While it is great to get more people familiar with other forms of transportation, the e-bike rentals were out of budget for most students. Other projects included new bike path on Elizabeth Avenue, bike lockers available for rental from the MUN Sustainability office, and MUN Bike Hub student group.
Misconceptions about biking as a primary means of transportation
Barriers that prevent biking from becoming a primary means of transportation include misconceptions such as ‘You can’t ride in the cold/rain’, ‘You can’t ride all year round’, ‘St. John’s has too many hills. I’m not in good enough shape for riding up hills’, ‘Bikes are expensive’, ‘Cycling is not safe.’
If we dig deeper, we will discover that these misconceptions can easily be dispelled, using simple workarounds. For instance, you can ride in the cold and/or rain with proper rain gear, gloves, and warmer helmet and biking shoes. Biking over a hill is doable, using the right low gears, which is independent on your fitness level. As to the misconception of bikes being too inexpensive, bikes come in a spectrum of bike price ranges. It is possible to get an affordable bike to match your current financial state.
While there are risks to biking as with other things, using bike lanes and following bike safety tips such as using a helmet, and driving defensively improve the safety of biking [see also].
Introducing the concept of a bike centre
Across Canada, many universities have a bike centre – a hub for students to deal with biking needs and to promote a cycling culture on campus. For instance, Dalhousie, McGill, University of Ottawa, University of Toronto, University of Waterloo, University of Guelph, Laurentian, University of Winnipeg, University of Saskatchewan, University of Alberta, University of Calgary, University of British Columbia, University of Victoria and others have bike centres on campus.
The universities and student unions provide an indoor space and funding for bike centres. Most of these university bike centres provide free use of tools and free used bike parts. Parts that have to be changed more often like tubes, cables and tires are sold at cost. These centres also offer technical experience and assistance for students to tune-up or repair their bikes.
Bike centres provide a place for organising bike related events such as basic maintenance workshops, advanced bicycle repair workshops and beginner biking classes. Bike centres are usually run by volunteers and typically receive frequent bike donations. The donated bikes are lent out, sold, or disassembled for spare parts.
In the past, MUN had a bike centre which operated between 1993 and 2003, and from 2007 to 2020. The bike centre was slowly downsized and moved from an indoor space in the Engineering building, to a weather-exposed, and unlit area of a parking garage. The last bike centre was shut down during the pandemic and the associated bikes and equipment given away. The MUN bike centre offered technical assistance and access to tools, as well as new and used bike parts. They also rented bikes to students at a low cost of $20 per calendar year.
Would you like MUN to have a bike centre again?
A small group of students – the MUN Bike Hub – are working on restarting the bike centre at MUN and are currently seeking volunteers with any skills that might be of use. Skills required in volunteers include experience with bikes, administration, logistics, marketing, social media, or grant writing.
Other skills that may be useful are also welcome. Currently, one of the things the MUN Bike Hub needs is for supporters to petition the university for a space to run the program. To make biking more accessible at MUN, consider letting your student union know that you would like and benefit from a bike centre on campus and that you’d like them to push for something like this. Also, consider contacting the university senate and lobbying for their input in approving a bike centre on campus and how this could impact you, the university community and the environment.
To get involved, and make biking more accessible at MUN, contact the MUN Bike Hub group at MUNBikeHub@gmail.com.
