I want to ride my bicycle. I want to ride my bike. I want to ride my bicycle. I want to ride it where I like.
If you no longer feel as enthusiastic about your bike as Queen did about theirs, you can donate it to East Tennessee State University’s Yellow Bike Program.
In fact, the week of Sept. 29 is ETSU’s Bike Drive. All bike donations can be dropped off at the Center for Physical Activity front desk during regular hours.
“People with unwanted or unused bikes in their garage can turn them over to our program, in order to give those neglected bikes a new life,” said Lance Lewis, ETSU junior and president of Initiative for Clean Energy.
First, bikes donated to the Yellow Bike Program will be refurbished, and then put into circulation on campus for students, faculty and staff to check out and ride around all day at no cost.
The goals for the Yellow Bike Program are to promote a cost effective, alternative transportation system that does not depend on fossil fuels or car ownership, to help relieve parking and traffic congestion on campus and to promote physical activity for better health, said Kathleen Moore, ETSU’s director of landscape, grounds and sustainability.
“Most days, I check out a Yellow Bike and ride it everywhere,” said Katie MacMillian, an avid Yellow Bike user and senior at ETSU. “I get to class faster than people do on foot or in cars. It’s definitely a worthwhile program,”
Initiative for Clean Energy started the Yellow Bike Program based similar programs in other cities and at other universities.
ICE drafted a proposal to the student activities allocation committee, which, in turn, accepted the proposal and provided $2,000.
ICE is a student-led environmental group on campus that is looking to change the way that ETSU students, faculty, and staff think about the earth around them and how they affect it, says Lewis.
The Yellow Bike Program began last spring with three donated bikes and has grown to include 11 bikes, said Lewis. Most of the current bicycles were left on campus by students in previous years and have now been recycled into the program.
“Even with the limited number of bikes in the program at the moment,” said Moore, “their availability has enriched the lives of many by providing an alternative and clean mode of transportation.

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