A pool of cycles, available to students for a termly fee, has been established at St Anne’s.
The new bike scheme will provide four unisex cycles for college members. Students will be charged a fee of £5 per term for use of the bikes, as well as lights, locks and helmets. The termly charge will be used to maintain the bikes and to purchase new ones when they are in need of replacement.
Similar schemes have already been introduced in a number of other colleges, and the JCR consulted its members in an online survey to decide on the specifics of the new system.
According to Oscar Boyd, JCR President, “The new St Anne’s bike scheme will offer those students without access to bicycles in Oxford an easy and affordable way to get around town. Visiting and international students in particular will benefit from the scheme, and it will mean future year groups will not have to scramble to snatch up second-hand bikes at the beginning of each year.”
Jonny Rix, JCR Treasurer, commented, “St Anne’s is known for having a high proportion of students who come from low-income backgrounds. This scheme might be of particular use to less well off students as it will mean that they won’t necessarily have to buy their own bikes.”
Helen Robb, ex-President of the JCR, was at the forefront of the motion to introduce the scheme. She told Cherwell, “The JCR were wonderful and really got behind the scheme – they supported the committee in putting the idea to the college and helped towards the funding for the bikes.
“The college also helped, with our bursar getting behind the idea and helping us to administer the scheme through the lodge.”
Robb added, “I’d absolutely encourage other JCRs to get involved with similar schemes. Oscar Boyd has done a great job helping to finally get the scheme up and running and I’m excited to see how it turns out when it gets started next term.”
