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Urban Bicycling Safety Class and City Bike Tampa’s Partnership with UT

November 5, 2010

Tags: bicycle safety, st pete times forum, tampa baycycle, University of Tampa
Posted in: Local Events, Local News, Special Offers

Next Saturday, November 13th at 10am we will be in the west lot of the St Pete Times Forum conducting an urban bicycling safety clinic.

Lessons to be learned include:

• Urban riding & commuting tips
• Moving along with moving traffic
• Traveling along 1 way streets
• Positioning, turns & traffic signals
• Cyclists legal rights & responsibilities

For complete details or to share this information with a friend, you can download our promotional flier here.

This service is being brought to you for FREE of charge and is sponsored by Tampa BayCycle and our friends at the St Pete Times Forum.

University of Tampa’s Bicycle Rental Program

Last Month City Bike Tampa assisted UT with the assembly of their new student bicycle rental fleet. Shivani Kanji published the following article last week about the program in The Minaret (UT’s campus newspaper):

Students at the University of Tampa can now rent bikes to grocery shop, exercise or even just to take a joy ride to their class, through the new program BikeUT.

Headed by the Department of Campus Recreation in association with City Bike Tampa.

BikeUT allows students, faculty and staff to rent bikes for free with a valid Spartan ID.

“I think it provides a small sense a freedom to students who don’t have a car or bicycle on campus and have to rely on friends or taxis to get around,” said Kathryn White, assistant director of Campus Recreation. “Plus, the weather has been beautiful, making riding so enjoyable.”

Rental bikes are equipped with a helmet and bike lock and an optional basket. Students are encouraged to take precaution and keep their bikes locked when not in use. Student riders can receive a ten percent discount from City Bike Tampa on their purchase of a helmet and lock if they wish to purchase their own.

“We have had several students already take advantage of the program, some are even repeat renters,” said White. “They really like the ability to check out a bike for a few hours to go to the store or just ride around town.”

In regards to helmet use, White comments, “BikeUT encourages and offers the use of a helmet and I would really like to see students making the smart decision to wear one. There are just too many hurried drivers on the road who don’t pay attention to cyclists.”

There is a free urban safety class at the St. Pete Times Forum on November 13 that would be beneficial to students. Campus Recreation hopes to host some of these classes on campus soon.

The main thing to remember is that a bicycle is considered a vehicle and one must follow the same rules as one does with a car: stop at lights and stop signs, signal to turn, ride with traffic, yield to pedestrians and so on.

…to read the rest of the article please, visit the Minaret Online.

Ride On!