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Community Bicycle Congress

Exploring transportation alternatives for Boise State University and beyond!

Alternative Transportation Challenge, 2007 – Roll With It!

This year the Bicycle Congress joins forces with Health, Wellness and Counseling Services, Campus Recreation, Parking and Transportation Services, and the Department of Kinesiology. Together, we challenge each Boise State University student, staff or faculty member to Roll With It! by using alternative transportation at least sixteen times between April 3 and May 1.

It’s easy – to participate in the challenge, you will simply log “trips” on a calendar. A “trip” is any purposeful journey from a point of origin to a destination, not including the return! Are you a commuter? Your daily round-trip journey counts as two trips. If you use alternative transportation each way to and from campus, you can meet the challenge, in just eight days.

Alternative transportation is available everywhere – because whenever you refrain from driving alone, you are using alternative transportation. Walking and bicycling both qualify, as do car pooling, van pooling, and riding the bus. Instead of driving alone, try telecommuting! Can you reach your destination by swimming the river? Go for it! Do you have a bicycle? Ride it to work – or to the store! Paddle your kayak to campus! Strap on those old rollerblades and skate to work!

Calendar of Events

Tuesday, April 3 – Roll With It! Kickoff Ceremony – 10:00 am to 2:00 pm – Recreation Center Patio

Friday, April 20 – Bicycle Congress 3rd Annual Symposium – All Day – Bishop Barnwell Room, Boise State Student Union

Thursday, May 3 – Roll With It! Awards Ceremony – 11:30 am to 1:00 pm – Recreation Center Patio

Contest Rules

Eligibility: Every Boise State University student, faculty or staff member, whether full- or part-time, is eligible to participate. Residents of student housing are eligible and are encouraged to participate. To claim a prize, participant must be display proof of employment or enrollment at Boise State University.

Definition of Alternative Transportation: Alternative transportation includes any mode of conveyance other than a single-occupant motorized vehicle. Telecommuting counts as alternative transportation. Notice that a hybrid car, if occupied by the driver alone, does not qualify as alternative transportation. Neither does a singly-occupied motorcycle, motor scooter, or Segway.

Definition of a Trip: A trip is any purposeful journey from a point of origin to a destination, not including the return. When you travel to campus, that’s one trip. When you return home, that is a second trip. If you stop at the post office on your way to campus, your journey to campus comprised two trips. The post office was one destination, which became a point of origin when you departed for your second destination, the campus.

Contest Credits: Each time you make a trip using alternative transportation between April 3 and May 1 (inclusively), you receive an alternative transportation credit, up to two credits per day. You may earn credits on weekends. You may earn credits for travel not related to Boise State University. Our objective is to encourage reduction of driving alone. Following are some scenarios, with commentary on their relevance to the Roll With It! challenge.

Mr. X lives in Nampa. Carrying a bicycle in the back of his pickup, he leaves home on Monday morning and drives to the Park & Ride lot at Overland and Eagle Road. He parks the pickup and pedals his bicycle the remaining distance to Boise State University. After classes, he cycles back to the parked pickup, and drives it home. His round-trip journey comprised four trips—two using alternative transportation. He enters those two trips on his tracking calendar for the day. Mr. X repeats his travel patterns Tuesday through Friday. By Friday evening, Mr. X has 10 credits for using alternative transportation.

On Saturday, Mr. X works at a lumber yard. He rides the bicycle to and from work, earning two additional credits.

Miss W lives on campus. Two afternoons a week, she works part time at a retail store near campus. She always walks to and from her job, thereby earning four credits for, four trips walking, for four credits. Miss W deserves praise for choosing to live on campus. She automatically eliminates some number of trips that she might have taken as a drive-alone commuter. However, Miss W can not take credit for trips that she might have taken. Her challenge is the same as everyone’s: to use alternative transportation for the trips she does take. Knowing this, Miss W rides her bicycle both ways, when she goes shopping on Saturday.

Mrs. Y lives in west Boise. On Monday morning she drives alone to work at Boise State University. On Monday evening, she leaves her car parked safely on campus and rides the bus home. Tuesday morning, she rides the bus to work. On Tuesday evening, she drives the car home, alone. In two days her journeys to and from campus have comprised four trips—two of them using alternative transportation. Mrs. Y repeats the pattern on Wednesday and Thursday. On Friday, she telecommutes, taking two alternative transportation credits for saving a trip to and a trip from campus. By Friday evening, Mrs. Y has 6 credits for using alternative transportation. On Sunday, Mrs. Y walks to and from church, thereby earning two more credits.

Miss Z lives in Hyde Park. On Monday morning she carpools to campus with her neighbor, Mr. A. Because Mr. A finishes class much earlier than Miss Z does, he drives home alone. Miss Z rides home on the bus. This involves changing bus lines in downtown Boise. Because Miss Z could have changed travel modes instead of transferring to a different bus line, her bus ride home counts as two trips. For the day, Miss Z has taken three trips using alternative transportation—one car pool trip, and two bus trips. Mr. A and Miss Z repeat their patterns, Tuesday through Friday. By Friday evening, Mr. A has 5 credits for car pooling. Miss Z has 10 credits, the maximum she can earn in five days.

Why the Maximum of Two Credits Per Day? We want the challenge to be realistic, reasonably easy, and fair. Consider Mr. K, a homebody. He makes only two trips—to work and back, on a bicycle—each Monday through Friday. On weekends, Mr. K stays home tending the garden and his pet pigeons. Mr. K goes anywhere only 10 times per week. Yet, like Miss Z, he succeeds in using alternative transportation for the trips he does take. Those ten credits, and any ten earned by Miss Z, are equally significant. The two per day maximum is arbitrary, meant to respect people like Mr. K and Miss Z equally.

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How Do I Claim Contest Credits?

Contest credits are claimed using a tracking calendar. You may download the calendar electronically, then either keep it up to date on your computer, or print it and keep the paper copy up to date. Paper calendars will be available at the Roll With It! Kickoff Celebration, on April 3.

Please log your modes of transportation each day from Tuesday, April 3 through Tuesday, May 1. You may log any two trips on a given day, regardless of destination or origin.

Completed calendars are due not later than 8:00 PM on Wednesday, May 2.

To submit a completed electronic calendar, send it as an e-mail attachment to rollwithit@boisestate.edu . Calendars completed on paper can be submitted by hand carrying to Campus Recreation Service Desk. Paper calendars can also be sent through Campus Mail, addressed to Mail Stop 1711, attn: Jesse Sears. Download the calendar (Excel Spreadsheet, 38k).

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Added Attractions During the Kickoff Ceremony

The Kickoff Ceremony will feature live music, instructional sessions with a bicycle mechanic, and opportunities to register your bicycle. Complete details coming soon!

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Prize List

Each eligible participant who earns 16 alternative transportation credits will receive a really cool T-shirt, courtesy of the Roll With It! organizers and McU Sports. In addition, each successful participant will be entered in a drawing for one Bonus Prize, from the following list.

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Added Attractions During the Awards Ceremony

Bonus Prize drawings will be held at a grand celebration hosted by the May In Motion event staff, along with the Community Bicycle Congress.

Each eligible participant’s name will be entered once. No person may win more than one prize. Winners need not be present. Absent winners will be notified by e-mail, and will be required to collect prizes within 3 business days of the event. Any prize not collected before 1:00 PM on Tuesday, May 8, 2007 will revert to custody of the Bicycle Congress, to be used in future promotions.

In addition to prize drawings, there will be a free Basic Bike Repair Clinic in session, with opportunities to register bicycles for protection in case of theft. Representatives from the Sierra Club will be on hand to explain the U. S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement (Cool Cities campaign), which was adopted by the City of Boise in August of 2006.

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