BIKES ARE HERE! Bike-Share Pilot Program Officially Underway

The Bike-Share Pilot Program coordinated by Limestone University and the City of Gaffney is officially underway now that the bikes have arrived on campus.

Seen here are (left to right) Limestone students Abigail Tredway, Haley White, and Rashae Brown with the bikes located on the front campus near the Hines & Riggins Center. The Bike-Share Program is part of a community service component for a Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity class taught by Dr. Felicia Cavallini. Three other students taking part in the community service component include Caitlyn Gilmore, William Finnearty, and Cason McClendon.

The City of Gaffney agreed in 2022 to fund the project that was initially proposed by Limestone students.

Mason Gilbert, Abigail Smith, and Alison Walsh made a presentation to the City Council in April of 2021 to pitch the concept of a collaborative bike-share program that they felt would benefit students and the community.

According to Gaffney City Administrator James Taylor, funds were identified in January of 2022 from the American Rescue Plan Act, and City Council voted unanimously to allocate $25,000 from those funds for the first phase of the proposed bike-share program. Taylor said at the time that the City of Gaffney was ready to work with Limestone to implement the pilot program. The plan is to use the initial phase as a pilot project in hopes to later make the bikes available across the city.

The bike-share initiative is part of an ongoing project that was jump-started in 2017 by students Sophie Bosserhoff, Marina Carbonara, and Carleigh Davis. When the idea was initially presented, those three students were in their final semester at Limestone, completing an internship with Cavallini.

During their presentation to City Council two years ago, the students explained that such a bike-share program, starting with a pilot project at Limestone, would not only help the community, but also many of the University’s students.

Limestone has a large international student population, with most of those students not owning cars. The students explained that a bike-share program would improve the commute to classes and around town to shop and to make it easier to become a part of the fabric of the local community.