Two-wheel plan touted for capital campus

• Last Updated: January 07. 2009 8:30AM UAE / January 7. 2009 4:30AM GMT

A graduate student at New York University, goes for a bike ride on the Corniche. Galen Clarke / The National

ABU DHABI // A group of students hopes to create a bicycle loan scheme at a university campus in Abu Dhabi that could one day inspire the city to embrace a wider network.

Four urban planning students from New York University (NYU) have visited Abu Dhabi to research the scheme for the NYU satellite campus on Saadiyat Island.

Students at the campus, due to be completed in three years, would be able to use bicycles provided in the share programme for short trips instead of relying on cars. Such schemes have proved popular in New York and Paris and the students hope Abu Dhabi might also benefit.

John Keller, 25, one of the students at NYU’s Wagner School of Public Service, said: “We wanted the proposal to be an example for the rest of Abu Dhabi. Biking is a practical way to get around. The bike share could also provide some identity for the campus, it could affect the collective consciousness. We’re planting seeds and we’re going to hope it grows.”

He said government could also help in changing people’s habits.

“In New York, if the department of transportation thought more bike lanes were needed, they would probably take a lane away from drivers. Giving that public space to people to use in a way they haven’t experienced before, people see it as a gift. They appreciate it, and it has a snowball effect.

“We researched Abu Dhabi’s history, its culture. As we learned more, we kept refining our approach.”

He said no one should discount cycling as a viable means of transport in Abu Dhabi.

“Over the past 20 years, biking in New York has gone from being nothing to being a real status symbol. So we never thought it couldn’t happen here.”

Sussanah Still, 25, said that despite its car culture, Abu Dhabi seemed to have a genuine interest in sustainability.

“The culture here doesn’t need to be changed, they just need to be shown that there are other ways of getting around,” she said. “The city is open to making things happen, and that’s exciting, there’s more possibilities for things getting implemented.”

The project is part of a Wagner School of Public Service course which requires students to solve a challenge in a community. Four of these students chose to design a proposal for a bike share system at the NYU Abu Dhabi campus.

Hilary Ballon, the associate vice chancellor at NYU Abu Dhabi and a professor at the Wagner School, said the four were part of a wider group of 14 who were visiting this week from New York to consult with various agencies and professionals in Abu Dhabi about their projects.

“For the students, this is also important because it gives them the chance to work in a group, like they would in real life, and they learn how to observe. It isn’t about transferring what you know from home to Abu Dhabi; it’s about learning from and about Abu Dhabi.”

The students will ultimately come up with a proposal, the presentation of which they will make to NYU Abu Dhabi at the end of the academic year. The idea for the bike share would see a number of bicycles locked up on campus. Access would be through a student card. So far this week, they said they have learned more about the city than anything they could have gleaned from Google.

Eric Wilson, planner with Abu Dhabi’s Urban Planning Council, met the students yesterday. “We appreciate the value of what students can contribute to the field of planning.”

jhume@thenational.ae