The Rocky Mountain Collegian

Issue date: 8/23/07 Section: News

Bike racks outside of the Morgan Library fill up during the school day as students use two wheels as an alternative means to get on campus for the day.

In it's first year, the Sensible Modes of Alternative Road Transportation (SMART) Fair is prepared to go the distance, on foot of course.

The CSU event, on the Lory Student Center Plaza Aug. 27- 28, is promoting the transportation options readily available to students other than driving a vehicle.

"The whole idea of the fair is to show them the kind of alternative ways of getting to campus while leaving the car at home," said Transfort Marketing Analyst Judith Lavelle.

By using other modes of transportation to get to class, students are helping the environment, improving personal health and keeping money in the wallet rather than the gas tank, said Off-Campus Student Services Assistant Director Jan Rastall.

These benefits, along with the desire to inform people of the advantages, are the motivations behind the event.

"We really want to see students take care of themselves," Rastall said. "Even if it's just one day a week that they ride their bike to school. They can start small and work their way up."

And riding a bike to school shouldn't be that difficult considering the size of this town, said Recycled Cycles General Manager Sam Moes.

"Most places in Fort Collins you can ride a bike to as fast as you can drive, if not faster," he said.

Campus is also an easy place to navigate on a bicycle, Moes said.

"Campus is pretty mellow as long as you have a headlight," he said. "It's a laid-back place to ride."

And if a headlight is exactly what the bike is missing, free bike lights will be given to any student who pays the $5 to register his or her bicycle at the fair. The free gift is part of an incentive to encourage students to register their bicycles and be street legal, keeping them ticket-free.

"We don't want to discourage students. We want to prevent them from getting tickets," Rastall said.

Riding a bus is also a sensible way to get to class without having to get behind the wheel of a car, and is one of the transportation services that will be highlighted at the fair.

And Transfort also has its own list of incentives.

Continued...

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