In a 'win' for student organizing, this campus group is bringing cheap cycling to McMaster University
Earlier this month, 94 per cent of student votes were in favour of creating a $24.50 annual fee
Biking around Hamilton is about to get quite a bit easier for McMaster University students, thanks to a small group of young people on campus who say they are "passionate" about making change and helped push a referendum on the issue forward.
Next year, undergrads at the school will have the option of getting a bike share pass, at a steeply discounted cost, through student fees. Organizers who campaigned in favour of the new program — which was voted in by referendum this month —say that's a win for students' wallets and sustainability.
"Twenty-two per cent of emissions are from the transportation sector, and bikes don't have any. If it's gonna take even a few cars off the streets, we'll take that as a win," said Taskin Eera, co-organizer with McMaster Students for Bike Share.
Eera said with bus service near McMaster reduced on weekends and in the summer, bike share is an affordable way for students who don't have cars to visit other parts of the city and support the local economy.
"It makes [students] more connected to the Hamilton community and allows us to be the engaged residents that we could become."
McMaster Students for Bike Share also includes Kenneth Chen, Ofure Itua, Paris Liu, Xin Law-Gallagher, David Landry and Rhea Saini.
Hamilton Bike Share is a program that allows users to ride bikes they pick up and drop off at 130 locations across the lower city, seven of which are on McMaster's campus. Riders use an app to unlock the bikes, track and pay for rides.
Annual pass for students to cost $24.50
Following the referendum earlier this month, full-time undergraduate students can now cover an annual Bike Share Pass for $24.50 as part of their student fees. Students can opt out. The pass will give users 90 minutes of daily ride time, and is significantly cheaper than the current $16 monthly student pass.
Liu said McMaster Students for Bike Share came together in November 2022 when she and Saini, who were housemates at the time, learned they were both interested in advocating for a student pass. The others eventually joined.
"The cool thing about our group is that we're not like a student club where we have rules and hierarchies. All seven of us are co-organizers of the campaign and each person has played a pivotal role in its success," Liu said. "This was really a grassroots campaign by students for students."
It took about a year to get bike share on the ballot, Chen said. Organizers collected over 900 signatures by hand, then had to navigate student union bureaucracy and liaise with Hamilton Bike Share to iron out details.
Despite what they see as significant benefits, the co-organizers tell CBC Hamilton it took hard work to get the result they wanted. They had to pitch the pass, raise awareness about the referendum and get out the vote with a ground game that included class visits and campaigning in campus common areas.
The referendum had to meet a minimum turnout threshold of 10 per cent to be counted — no small task in student politics. For example, several recent Student Representative Assembly elections saw single-digit voter turnout.
"A major, major concern was can we reach that 10 per cent?" Law-Gallagher said.
With the help of a campus group that supports student activism, the team produced TikToks and spread the word on social media.
Cycling a low-cost alternative to cars and buses, students say
Sometimes, Eera said, students would take flyers, walk on, then come back to ask for more information after seeing the price.
"We've checked. It's the cheapest student student bike share pass in all of Canada," she said.
That also makes it a low-barrier option for students who want to try out biking, she said, or ride short distances around campus when they otherwise would have walked. "You would think I'm an avid cyclist. I'm not. I learned recently."
Bike share also reduces concerns about bike theft, she said, a persistent concern on campus, as CBC Hamilton has reported.
Itua added that the city's recent transit strike also seems to have influenced students. "This is an alternative if the buses don't come."
In the March 6 and 7 referendum, 4,264 of 25,714 eligible students (about 17 per cent) voted in the ballot, verified MSU election results show.
Of those, 94 per cent voted in favour of creating an annual fee for the 12-month bike share pass. There was not a registered "no" campaign.
An annual student pass is something there's been interest in for "quite some time," Hamilton Bike Share's director Chelsea Cox said. Student organizers say a 2016 referendum failed by three per cent.
Bike share is a non-profit, Cox said, and presuming about 10 per cent of students opt out, the new pass will mean a significant source of predictable funding.
She said the organization is committed to allowing people who can't use the program for accessibility reasons to opt out at any time.
Outside that, Eera said, her team doesn't think many will opt out. "People do want to have services for their peers even if they don't use it. At least I think so."
Hamilton Bike Share turns nine, plans to expand eastward
McMaster Students for Bike Share said this process has taught them a lot about democracy, and how to advocate for change.
Going forward, they plan to work on a report documenting their experience in the hopes of helping future groups advocate for similar programs, including when the bike pass comes up for a vote again in three years, per union rules.
"I think as the city changes [toward] having more transit and having more places for people to ride safely with bike lanes, [bike share is] just going to become a more and more common part of our landscape, which is very exciting," Cox said.
On Wednesday, Hamilton Bike Share is celebrating its ninth birthday, with a party at Gage Park's greenhouse.
The program currently operates between Dundas in the city's west end, to Ottawa Street in the east, but is planning an expansion east of Ottawa into Ward 4, Cox said.
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