Bike sharing station coming to UNTHSC this spring
The Health Science Center gears up its commitment to a healthier community with the unveiling this spring of a Fort Worth Bike Sharing station.
What's bike sharing? Much like borrowing books from a library, you use a credit card or pre-paid pass to "check out" a bicycle from a station, ride it to your destination, then "check in" the bike at the nearest station. Bike sharing is new to Fort Worth but going strong in many cities including San Antonio, Washington, D.C.; Denver, Minneapolis, Chicago and Portland, Ore.
Fort Worth is the first North Texas city to start bike sharing, and UNTHSC will be a founding member.
"It's a perfect fit for our mission of improving health and quality of life," said UNTHSC Marketing Manager Amy Buresh Schnelle, who coordinated the campus project. "Bicycling improves air quality and personal wellbeing. Locating a station on campus not only provides convenience to our faculty, staff and students but also brings more people to our campus and continues the UNTHSC commitment to major community projects."
Fort Worth's Bike Sharing program launch is tentatively set for April 22 and will include the unveiling of the 22-bike UNTHSC station outside the Center for BioHealth near the intersection of Camp Bowie Boulevard and Boland Street. Other station locations will be downtown, the Cultural District, the Near Southside and at TCU. UNTHSC will be the westernmost station at program launch, and about half of the bikes installed there at program launch will bear the UNTHSC logo.
The sponsorship costs for the station have been funded through the cooperation of multiple UNTHSC departments including: Facilities Management Department, Office of Sustainability, Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine, School of Public Health, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, School of Health Professions, Employee Benefits Action Committee and the Fund for Excellence, which is supported largely by contributions to the annual employee giving campaign.
As a station sponsor, UNTHSC employees and students will have the option to purchase discounted Bike Share passes.
Connect with Fort Worth Bike Share:
- http://www.fortworthbikesharing.org/
- http://www.facebook.com/FortWorthBikeSharing
- https://twitter.com/fwbikesharing
Click here for more information on bike sharing in the U.S.
If you are with the media and need additional information or would like to arrange an interview, please contact the Office of Marketing and Communications at 817-735-2446.
