Washington University is partnering with LimeBike to bring more than two dozen bikes daily to the Danforth Campus, seven to North Campus and seven to West Campus, beginning Aug. 4.

LimeBike, a dockless bike sharing program, arrived in St. Louis in April 2018. The bikes were not allowed on University property until the University had an official agreement with the company.

To use a LimeBike, users can download the LimeBike app and then follow prompts to find, unlock and ride a bike. The cost to ride is $1 per half hour. Additionally, anyone with an .edu email receives a 50 percent discount.

Jennifer Ra | Student Life

The LimeBike program, already in action throuhgout the city of St. Louis, began on Washington University’s Campus Aug. 4. The bikes can be found and accessed through the LimeBike app.

According to Clara Steyer, sustainability coordinator for the Office of Sustainability, the University was a part of a working group in the St. Louis area that brought bikeshare to the city and to the region.

“We think it’s a really great way to encourage people to use more alternative transportation, and it’s very affordable for people,” Steyer said. “The whole sharing concept is very aligned with sustainability, and so it just made sense to partner with Limebike. It’s at no cost to the University, so it’s a great opportunity for us to welcome this program to campus.”

Steyer is optimistic about the popularity of the program.

“I think personally that it’s going to be appealing, because again, it’s very affordable, very convenient for short trips and students living on campus, and most students live really close to campus so it really feels like it fits the need of our student population,” she said.

Sophomore Haewon Shin believes the bikes will offer a great mode of alternative transportation for students.

“I think [that] while St. Louis has a pretty robust transportation system, you can’t always rely on it,” Shin said. “And I think that the option of taking a bike at your convenience in terms of time a day and location where you can park them opens up places that would otherwise be easy to dismiss as inaccessible.”

The co-owner of Bears Bikes, sophomore Olly Cohen, was afraid LimeBike’s presence on campus would act as competition.

“I think it’s great that [the University] is supporting biking. It was a little scary at first when we were buying the business, we thought there’d be a lot of competition,” Cohen said. “Technically, we’re supposed to receive some sort of protection from competition, I think, on Wash. U.’s campus. [The University] told us that they didn’t see it that way because [LimeBike is] short-term rentals and we’re long-term rentals, which has some merit to it.”

Cohen wishes Bears Bikes received similar exposure from the University that LimeBike is receiving.

“The [Washington University] official Instagram, for example, has highlights for LimeBike and the engineering school got an official email from Wash. U., saying “Sign Up for LimeBike.” And we’re equally as sustainable, we’re student-owned and have been around since 2004,” Cohen said. “Can we get a free email from Wash. U. sent to the entire engineering school? Can we get featured on [the University’s] official Instagram? They have a permanent highlighted story [for LimeBike.]”

According to Steyer, one main concern for the program is parking the bikes on campus. Off-campus riders can simply park the bikes on tree lawns and out of the way, but on-campus riders must park at bike racks.

“We installed a notification in the app, so in theory, users that are opening the app on campus should receive a notification telling them they need to park at a rack,” Steyer said. “There is still a risk and a concern that that won’t be respected, so that’s the potential reason we see bikes just popping up [and] impeding the sidewalks or places creating safety issues, so that’s a big concern.”

Steyer hopes the program will also be a good opportunity for students to try biking before making a commitment to purchase a bike.

“There are a lot of students, even before they move in they buy a bike not really knowing if they will actually need it. So I’m really hoping that LimeBike will allow them to bike around without purchasing a bike that might not need in the future,” she said.

Cohen hopes to capitalize on LimeBike’s presence on campus.

“This is the first year of LimeBike [on campus,] so one of my marketing ideas is going up to people on LimeBikes and [saying,] ‘Do you know about Bears Bikes, we’re actually a much better option. It’s a way better bike and it’s cheaper over time,’” he said.