UPDATED: Sept. 23, 2019 at 7:43 p.m

Student Association is considering a proposal that would subsidize a Syracuse bike share program to lower the cost to students.

If the Assembly approves the proposal, SA would provide $30,000 to Syracuse Sync, a partnership between Syracuse and the national-mobility service company Gotcha. The program allows students to rent electric bikes and ride them around campus or into the greater Syracuse area.

If SA subsidizes funding with the Gotcha company, an annual student membership with Gotcha would drop in cost from about $50 to $20. There is a Gotcha bike hub located outside the Martin J. Whitman School of Management. More hubs could be placed on campus under SA’s proposal.

At SA’s Sept. 16 meeting, Vice President Sameeha Saied said the Gotcha program is a “great way” to encourage students to get off campus. Many students aren’t able to bring a car, she said.

The funding must go through various parliamentary procedures and a final vote to be passed. At the meeting, SA members spent about 15 minutes debating how accessible the bikes would be, especially when the weather gets colder.

While many SA members showed support for the program, some worried that the bikes would be unsafe during the winter months. Others brought up concerns that fewer students would try to use them during the winter and questioned whether the funding would be worth it.

“The biggest concern right now is whether or not it would be feasible to subsidize the cost,” Saied said. “Because we are on a hill and because we get so much snow, it’s a matter of whether people would actually use the bikes in the winter.”

Before making a final decision, SA will bring the Assembly members’ concerns directly to Gotcha.

“Our concerns have been raised with Gotcha and we look forward to our open dialogue both with Gotcha and with the student body,” said Sofia Rossi, co-chair of the Community Engagement, in an emailed statement to The Daily Orange.

SA members will also work with university administrators to ensure sidewalks and streets around campus are accessible for all students during winter months regardless of whether they ride a bike, Saied said.

Campus Facilities Administration and Services recently developed a plan to lengthen snow clearance hours and increase heating on sidewalks. SA was not involved in the plan this academic year, said SA President Mackenzie Mertikas.

“We’ve been wanting to pursue better accessibility and sidewalks since before we got involved with Syracuse Sync because that has been a general problem on campus,” Saied said.  “Especially for students with disabilities who have trouble getting around for a lot of the year,”

While Syracuse Sync is still working to start the campus program, students are able to use the electronic bikes located off campus. Gotcha is planning on installing hubs around campus in the coming weeks, Saied said.

Before continuing with the funding, SA plans to work with the student body as well as Gotcha to ensure the bikes will be feasible during the winter months.

“We are going to take all of these concerns back to Gotcha bike and see what they have to say,” Mertikas said. “It is a program we are excited about but it is a lot of money so we want everyone to be on board with before making any decisions.”

CORRECTION: Due to an editing error, in a previous version of this post, the date that Student Association is voting on the resolution was misstated. The date it’s voting is to be determined. Also, the amount of Gotcha bike hubs on campus was misstated. There is one hub on campus. The Daily Orange regrets these errors.

Published on September 22, 2019 at 10:11 pm

Contact Maggie: mehicks@syr.edu | @maggie_hickss