The University recently announced its intention to apply for a $500,000 Virginia Department of Transportation grant that would enable the establishment of an on-Grounds bike sharing program, which would be known as UBikes. It would be the largest on-campus bike sharing program in the United States and would feature 100 bikes at 13 locations around Grounds, making it the most ambitious of the University's attempts to upgrade its existing transportation network.
Such an initiative would have to overcome a number of logistical hurdles, but it represents the type of reform needed to prepare the University to absorb thousands of additional students in the coming years. Therefore, the state government must find a way to support UBikes, whether through a competitively-awarded grant or general appropriations. If it fails to do so, it will risk the breakdown of the University's transportation network and those of the surrounding municipalities.
The underlying dynamics necessitating the enhancement of transportation options at the University are related to persistent pressure from the commonwealth to expand enrollment. In 2014, the University will reach the conclusion of a 10-year plan to increase its undergraduate student population by 1,100 and its graduate student population by 400. A follow-up growth blueprint was enacted last year, however, to account for Gov. Bob McDonnell's call for an additional 100,000 degrees to be conferred upon Virginians during the next 15 years.
This second plan will further boost undergraduate and graduate enrollment by 1,400 and 100 students, respectively, within the next eight years. Although these expansions are gradual and relatively modest in scope compared to other proposals, they will result in noticeably increased demand for services such as dining, housing and transportation.
Revisions in the first two areas already are well underway, as evidenced by the ongoing construction at Newcomb Dining Hall and the Alderman Road dormitories. Transportation improvements also will be necessary, though, to accommodate the 3,000 additional students who will be traveling to and from classroom buildings, libraries, dining halls and grocery stores. Without some sort of reform to the current system, quality of life at the University and in the Charlottesville area will suffer appreciably from an overburdened mass transit network and increased traffic congestion, as well as the subsidiary problems of air pollution and safety risks for travelers.
Although a bike sharing program will not prevent those by itself, it would be a cost-effective and highly versatile plank in the University's overarching strategy of creating a diversified and sustainable transportation network. It would offer students more flexibility than a car since they would not have to endure the hassle of finding one of the precious few parking spots that exist on Grounds. It also would provide a more consistent mode of transportation than the University Transit Service buses, which sometimes run behind schedule and can fill up unpredictably.
Moreover, it would appeal to students who presently might be dissuaded from bike-riding by the attendant maintenance and storage concerns. And by offering students a viable alternative to their personal automobiles, it would save the City of Charlottesville and Albemarle County from having to undertake expensive and disruptive road construction projects.
None of these benefits can be realized, however, unless the commonwealth does its part to address a situation that is largely of its own making. Lawmakers were wise to take a hands-off approach while the University gauged the needs of its transportation network and established its priorities for future projects, but they should provide financial support now that a proposal for a bike share program has been put forth by students and administrators. In addition to fulfilling their responsibilities to the University and its surrounding municipalities, lawmakers may find that UBikes offers a vision for solving the much larger transportation problems plaguing the commonwealth as a whole.
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