Editor’s Note: The story about the IPO Bike Loan program that ran in Tuesday’s edition of The Argonaut contained incorrect information. This story contains updated and correct information about the program.
The International Programs Office is currently in negotiations with various campus departments and community programs to determine the future of its bike loan program.
IPO Executive Director Susie Bender said the program will not end and is still currently active even though all of the available, working bikes are
loaned out to students.
“We’ve been discussing ways to enhance the bicycle services and to promote students biking on campus,” Bender said. “We want to have it grow and expand to serve the needs
of the students.”
Bender said the IPO began conversations for almost a year with the University of Idaho Sustainability Center, UI Parking and Transportation Services and the Palouse Bicycle Collective — a community program anticipated to open in the near future — to determine the
future of the program.
Bender said these discussions started because there has been a lot of interest from students about the bike loan program, but the IPO does not have the resources to make the program as successful as it could be.
“Our ability to fix and produce bikes in good working order has been limited,” Bender said.
The program began in the early 1990s when members of the IPO office realized the importance of bicycles
for student transportation.
Bender said there are currently between 100 and 150 bikes loaned
out to UI students.
Students were able to obtain bikes from the program by filling out a short online form, paying a one-time user’s fee of $20 and a deposit of $30. Students are allowed to keep the bikes as long as they want and once they return the bike, they will receive their
$30 deposit.
All bikes used by the program have been collected by donations over time since the program began. The bikes are stored at the Bike Barn located on Poultry Hill on the UI campus.
The Bike Barn has also been open for limited hours over the years to offer bike repair by
IPO volunteers.
“We’re really committed to the idea of students biking,” Bender said. “So we’re working to improve the program,
not to end it.”
The Argonaut
can be reached at