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<div>Environment and Sustainability Seminar Series<br>
Sponsored by the MIT Laboratory for Energy and the Environment</div>
<div><http://lfee.mit.edu></div>
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<div>TECH BIKES: MODEL FOR SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORT ON LOCAL SCALE</div>
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<div>Atif Qadir '04 (Architecture/Urban Planning) and Damon Vander
Lind '07 (Physics)</div>
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<div><font color="#000000">Wednesday, March 10, 2004</font></div>
<div><font color="#000000">12:00 - 1:30 p.m.</font></div>
<div><font color="#000000">E40-496</font></div>
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<div>Abstract</div>
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<div>Tech Bikes is a transportation program that provides a fleet of
bicycles for use by members of the MIT community. It bridges the
divide between mobility and access left by MBTA buses and subway,
SafeRide, Tech Shuttle, private vehicles and simply walking. It
offers an on-demand, efficient, health-conscious, and
environmentally-safe alternative. Campus surveys and initial
meetings with administrators have supported both the feasibility and
impact of such a program at MIT, building on small bike share programs
at Sidney-Pacific Dormitory and Pika. The University of Rhode
Island and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst are in the early
stages of implementing campus-wide versions. Tech Bikes plans to
run a dorm-based pilot program at East Campus in anticipation of
implementation at the dorm and select other locations. <br>
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<div>Tech Bikes will make MIT the first university to implement
low-cost, student-designed Intelligent Bike Racks using card reader
technology and remote access for bike share, which radically increases
ease of use and rider accountability. Until now, only wealthy
municipalities with government support could afford such a system.
The goal of Tech Bikes is to not only improve our own campus, but use
it as a model for municipalities and universities that have few
transportation options or are in search of low-cost and
environmentally-conscious transport. For example, the Department
of Transportation of the City of Cambridge is supporting Tech Bikes
with in-kind donations in anticipation of expanding the program to the
surrounding community. </div>
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<div>Light refreshments will be provided.</div>
<div>___________________________________________________</div>
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<div>If you would like to be added or removed from this mailing list,
please contact Karen Gibson, kgibson@mit.edu</div>
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<div><font
color="#000000">_________________________________</font></div>
<div><font color="#000000">Karen L. Gibson</font></div>
<div><font color="#000000">Program Assistant</font></div>
<div><font color="#000000">MIT Laboratory For Energy and the
Environment</font></div>
<div><font color="#000000">77 Massachusetts Avenue,
E40-469</font></div>
<div><font color="#000000">(1 Amherst St., E40-469 - for DHL and
FedEx)</font></div>
<div><font color="#000000">Cambridge, MA 02139 USA</font></div>
<div><font color="#000000">Tel: 1 (617) 258-6368; Fax: 1
(617) 258-6590</font></div>
<div><font color="#000000">http://lfee.mit.edu</font></div>
<div><font
color="#000000">http://globalsustainability.org</font></div>
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