Alternative Transportation

You’ve probably experienced it. You’re walking to class, minding your own business, when suddenly the air seems to shift around you. There’s no verbal signal, no “on your left” that most recreational bicyclists would use to warn the person they’re about to pass. Only milliseconds have transpired when suddenly a student on his or her bike zips past you at eight times your speed, most likely two inches from your shoulder and hopefully not clipping your elbow in the process.

We all need to get to class on time one way or another. But with trees and dozens of squirrels to maneuver around, narrow walkways and numerous stairways, the preferred method of transportation on campus is a murky topic. Nationwide, bikes are the college norm, and the presence of bike racks outside nearly every building encourages this eco-friendly, healthy form of transportation.

However, having a bicycle on Princeton’s comparatively small 500-acre campus can become a cumbersome thing. Is it really worth it to deal with all the difficulties of a bike — the size, storing it over winter, bringing it home over the summer — when one could realistically walk across campus in less than half an hour? Maybe if you’ve walked from Forbes to the Friend Center, but maybe not if you’ve tried biking uphill on Washington Road.

Which leads us to a pivotal question many have yet to ask themselves: Are there alternative forms of transportation to the bike, and are those alternatives actually better?

Sharon Gao ’15 doesn’t need to make an extra stop to unlock her bike before heading to class in the mornings. She doesn’t need to because her method of transportation is swift, sensible and conveniently attached to her feet. Rollerblades weren’t the first things on Gao’s mind when she came to campus in the fall, but they’ve now become a great convenience for her. They’re small, can be worn throughout lectures and make for quick travel to a class on the opposite side of campus.

“One day at the beginning of the year, I was super late to an OA meeting. I had a pair of rollerblades in my room, so I decided to rollerblade there instead of walking. I’ve found it to be convenient ever since,” Gao said.

As hip and unusual as rollerblades might sound, another alternative form of transportation seems to be growing faster in popularity. “Scooters remind me of my childhood!” Sherry Li ’15 said. “And folding it up and carrying it around has its benefits. In class, I can stash my scooter under my seat or by the wall.” It all began when Li spotted another student on a scooter near the beginning of the semester and decided to bring a scooter back with her from break. She’s now convinced two of her friends to make the switch as well. “We jokingly call ourselves the Scooter Gang,” Li said.

It doesn’t stop there. David Kong ’15 has taken it even further by buying a motorized scooter. It’s more compact than the golf carts loaned out to injured students, you don’t need to worry about your friends asking for rides and you still don’t have to pedal. “If I’m going downhill, I can go as fast as most cars go on campus. If I’m going uphill, it will be a lot slower, but I still end up passing most bikers,” Kong said.

Gao and Li agreed on one major difficulty of using a normal scooter and rollerblades as opposed to a bike. Navigating campus often requires some learned maneuvers. “Scooter riders need to take caution on walkways because bumps can potentially knock you off. Going down the same paths will teach you which cracks or bumps to avoid and which ones to jump over,” Li said.

The collective supporters of these alternative modes continue to hit on three main advantages: portability, cost-effectiveness and safety. A rider has more control on a smaller vehicle, Li explained, because braking on a scooter, for example, is easier than doing so on a bike. Not to mention people can actually hear the scooter approaching from behind.

But is it even legal on campus to ride anything other than a bike? Most would scoff and claim that a bike is no less dangerous to pedestrian students than anything else. Once Gao had a different experience. “At the beginning of the year I used to set up at Woody Woo, but security said I wasn’t allowed to skate there or, in fact, anywhere. They said all forms of transportation besides bikes are not allowed anywhere on campus,” said Gao.

Determined to keep skating, this request hasn’t stopped her, and it also hasn’t deterred others on campus from making the switch to wacky motorized scooters or even the more conventional longboards and skateboards.