With Pomona College’s Green Bike Program (GBP) still not open nearly four weeks into the semester, students are left to grapple with the lack of transportation options on campus.
Pomona’s GBP is a student-run program that aims to ramp up bike usage on campus as part of the college’s sustainability efforts. Through the program, students are able to rent bikes, receive free bike maintenance and participate in an annual bike giveaway.
While the program is usually up and running by mid-September, staff members are anticipating a later start this fall due largely to a shortage of mechanics.
“This year is a little different because both me and the other co-manager were abroad last semester, so it kind of all came apart,” Santiago Serrano PO ’25, co-manager of the GBP, said.
Serrano added that the program has seen a decrease in the number of bikes available for students to rent. Bikes are sometimes stolen or unreturned, he said, and the program often has to endure a lengthy process of locating these bikes, cutting their locks and returning them.
“My freshman year, we originally had 300 bikes when we started,” Serrano said. “Now, we’re down to 120 to 150.”
Without sufficient staff or bikes, Pomona’s GBP has not been able to host its bike giveaway, which usually takes place at the start of the fall semester. Staff members hope to have a sign-up form for this year’s giveaway up by the end of the month, according to their webpage.
Some students have expressed disappointment in the GBP’s failure to open. Benjamin Sauer PO ’28 said that he ended up buying a skateboard instead of waiting to get a bike from the program.
“I was kind of upset, honestly, because I really wanted a bike to visit family around the area,” he said.
Other students, like Lee Ramsey PO ’27, noted the program’s past issues with inaccessibility and unreliability, which forced students to turn to other resources.
“To be honest, I just always used the Pitzer Green Bike program last year, just because Pomona’s was never open,” she said.
Serrano said that staff members are hoping to improve the program this year beginning by actively hiring mechanics so that they can open their rental fleet and move forward with this year’s giveaway.
Staff members are also working to foster community through the program, according to Serrano. While the GBP used to host social events for students on campus, he said that many of these events stopped after the pandemic — something that he hopes to see changed this year.
“We welcome anyone in the biking community,” he said.