To save parking spots and go green, the 1,000-student [Ripon] college offered incoming freshmen a brand-new Trek 820 mountain bike, a Trek Vapor helmet and a Master Lock U-Lock - all to keep - if they pledged to leave their cars at home.
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The Ripon bike giveaway, called the Velorution Project, has been wildly popular. Some 60% of freshmen [...] signed up for bikes, which they picked up Tuesday.

It’s one of the more innovative programs among a flurry of campus transportation initiatives at colleges and universities in Wisconsin. The programs are aimed at reducing the carbon footprint and parking demand by encouraging students, faculty or staff to use their cars less in favor of bikes, public transit, ridesharing or car-sharing programs.

Ripon appears to have learned from the mistakes of its predecessors. Before going bankrupt last spring, nearby Wallington University offered each incoming freshman the choice of a year’s worth of bus passes, a foldable scooter with matching carrying case, or an i2 Segway Personal Transporter.  “Surprisingly, we found that most kids chose the Segway, which stretched the program’s budget a bit,” recalled ex-Dean Laurence Robson.  “And many of them would then stow their Segways in the back of their SUVs every night when they drove home.  I really wish we had made them sign some sort of no-car pledge.”

“But the main problem was all the incidents involving kids being found unconscious next to overturned Segways, with scooter-wheel-shaped bruises all over their bodies,” Robson concluded.  “The Board of Directors didn’t like that at all.”

Tags: science, technology, transportation, bicycles, scooter-wheel-shaped bruises, carbon footprint, the board of directors didn't like that at all, scooters, segways, universities