ASU lets students rent campus bikes

Bike sharing is now available at Arkansas State University.

The Jonesboro school welcomed Lime Bike onto its campus in an announcement Friday. To use a bike, those with an Arkansas State email address will pay 50 cents for every 30 minutes, while other Jonesboro residents will pay $1. Payment is available through a smartphone app.

“The students are excited about having a convenient bike share program on campus,” Student Government Association President Haley Stotts said. “Something I’ve heard from students for some time is they wanted a way to have more bikes, and bikes that were for just getting around town. [Student government] has looked into several different systems. Lime Bike’s cost and ease of use were the reasons we went with them.”

The company’s lime green and yellow commuter-style bicycles are GPS and 3G-enabled, which allows a rider to easily find, unlock and pick up a nearby bicycle using a smartphone app, the university said. When finished, the rider can lock the bike’s back wheel and park between the pedestrian-designated sidewalk and the street curb, or at a bike rack, the university said.

The bikes include threespeed gearing, lights and a front basket. They also are equipped with an alarm, which will sound if a locked Lime Bike is moved beyond a predefined area or if an unrented bike detects motion above a certain speed.