N.C. State student Carlos Vega almost ran someone over after riding his personal bike with a flat tire and no brakes.
With a damaged bike and the price of WolfWheels, the University bike-sharing program, too expensive to be a feasible option, Vega began to look for alternatives.
The near accident led the junior in economics to enter the University’s Think Outside the Brick competition. The competition was a means for students at the University to obtain funding in order to complete an environmental and sustainable project around campus. A vot ing commit tee selected Vega and his teammates Brian Iezzi and Jana Sandovy to be the runner-ups of the competition for their proposal of a bike-sharing program called “Quad Bikes.”
As runner-ups, Vega and his team received $500 to begin funding their project.
According to Abby Gingrich, a junior in environmental technology and co-head of the competition, the purpose of the compet it ion was to “increase awareness of our environmental impact and carbon footprint.”
After examining his worn-out bike, Vega said he started thinking about the inconvenience and cost of the University’s bike-rental program, WolfWheels.
According to Univer s it y Recreation’s website, students can rent bikes for varying lengths of time, with a rental for the semester costing $99.
Rentals should be free as students are already paying so much money towards student fees, Vega said. Vega also said he dislikes the fact that students can only rent bikes at one location.
For thes e reasons, Vega said he wanted to work with WolfWheels to create a bike-sharing program that more ful ly accommodated student’s needs.
After talking with a former winner of the Think Outside the Brick Competition, Vega said he was encouraged to attempt to put his idea into action.
If implemented, QuadBikes would be similar to the free residential bike-sharing program currently in place at UNC-Chapel Hill, Vega said. Vega said he would first like to test his team’s sustainability solution in the Honors Village.
Vega said he has been working with WolfWheels director David Crye, who, according to Vega, is willing to donate five to 10 bikes should the program be implemented.
“I fully realize that there is a bike-share on campus. I just think it could be improved, and the way I envision it is having lots of satellite bike shares based on campus and ultimately make it so that it can be free for residents,” Vega said.
According to Vega, WolfWheels would act like the overarching organization to maintain records and liability.
Vega said he still needs to negotiate with University Housing as to how students would check out the bikes.
Vega said although he has been the leader of the project, he could not have put it together without the help of Iezzi, Sandovy and the support of Crye. Vega also cited University Transportation Planner Michael Ousdahl and his community director Brian Peters as huge contributors to the plans of QuadBikes.
“You always want to win, but in the grand scheme of things, I realized as a whole the ideas are meant to benefit N.C. State. It’s not about me, it’s about the University,” Vega said.
