Mercer Bear Bikes set to Launch

I wanted to share the exciting news about Mercer Bike Week. Another colleague and myself have designed a bike share program set to launch on Monday the 24th. This program, "Bear Bikes", is modeled upon other bike share programs found across the country. Mercer faculty, staff, and students will be able to use any bicycles from the Bear Bikes fleet using their ID card. The bike fleet has been assembled using reclaimed bicycles and the hard work of several students. Each bike is painted orange, comes with a helmet and lock, and is tuned-up for public use.

The program is in part designed to promote daily bicycle usage in order to commute around campus and nearby downtown Macon. In support of this effort, Macon's College Hill Corridor Commission has joined us with financial backing and some event planning. They have arranged for downtown restaurants to offer lunch specials to customers arriving on bike next week. There will be a different restaurant special each day and riders from Mercer will make the daily commute. Today, a small group of us took an inaugural ride in order to prepare for any difficulties we may have with leading up to a dozen riders through traffic into downtown Macon. I intend to keep this blog updated with frequent updates of the Bike Week events.

Craig