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Bike to Mason Day in Fairfax
Biking to college every day may very well help save the environment, or perhaps even free up some parking spaces on a regular basis.
However, next week at George Mason University in Fairfax, it will most definitely reduce the dollar amount of fines on outstanding parking tickets.
On Tuesday, April 22, the university will hold its first-ever Bike to Mason Day -- part of Mason Earth Week, which itself will include events highlighting conservation and sustainability beginning Saturday, April 19.
Most of the Bike to Mason Day events and activities will take place at the North Plaza near the north entrance to the Johnson Center.
All are welcome, but those bicycling to the Fairfax campus on April 22 can visit the “pit stop” to receive free food, a free bike tune-up, a free T-shirt and enter a contest for prizes.
For some riding their bikes to school that day, here is the best part: Mason parking services will reduce fines on outstanding parking tickets from $75 to $35.
The university’s Office of Parking & Transportation is sponsoring Bike to Mason Day in part to reduce the number of vehicles on campus, according to Ewart de Visser, a Mason doctoral student and one of the Bike to Mason Day organizers.
“We want to raise awareness that biking to campus is a very viable thing,” de Visser said.
“The idea is we want to get as many people to come and bike to Mason for one day,” he said. “We want to create this idea that biking to Mason is something a lot of people can do.”
Biking for fun and for transportation since he was a boy growing up in the Netherlands, de Visser said the infrastructure for bicycling in the United States is often lacking compared to the network of clearly marked lanes and other amenities for cyclists in his native country.
Since starting school at Mason in 2005, de Visser has been biking to the Fairfax campus almost every day. He currently lives about five miles away, near the Vienna Metro station.
“I have to say, however, now that I live by the Metro, sometimes when the weather is not so nice, I take the shuttle,” he said, referring to a free bus shuttle to and from campus with no stops in between.
Other students may be looking to join de Visser and ride their bikes to school, not just for the sake of the environment, but also because of the high cost of gasoline, the cost of purchasing and maintaining a car or just avoiding the stress and time associated with sitting in traffic.
“Even if people would leave their car for one day and just bike to work, for example, that would save money and help save the environment,” de Visser said, “It would not be as congested on the roads and the university wouldn’t have to build as many parking lots.”
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