This fall, Flathead Valley Community College students and faculty will have a new way to get around campus and beyond.

The college will unveil its new rental bicycle program in a limited capacity this summer, with the full program up and rolling when fall semester students return to school.

The Kalispell Police Department provided the bicycles and Flathead Industries is helping prepare and maintain them for the program.

Karen Glasser, the executive director of human resources for the college, started the gears turning a few months ago.

“The college gets some employee wellness incentives funding,” she said. “We had used that last year to bring some campus farm foods to the cafe and learn about healthy eating and nutrition.”

She thought a program to allow college employees to bike around campus and north Kalispell would be helpful and healthful.

“We’re primarily a commuter campus, but it takes forever to drive anywhere,” Glasser said. “It could take a whole lunch break just to get north and back. We were looking at bikes for that purpose.”

When Student Engagement Coordinator Genia Allen-Schmid heard about the project, she thought it would be perfect to expand to students as well.

“I just read an article in the Daily Inter Lake about the police giving away impounded bikes every May,” she said. “I wrote them a letter and they have been delightful to work with.”

The police department gave the college 39 bikes, 11 of them child-sized. Glasser and Allen-Schmid plan to give those smaller bikes away.

“They are great bikes,” Glasser said. “We honestly thought we’d get some that were trashed, but that’s not the case.”

Flathead Industries is working to make the bikes ready to ride and will spray paint each one a bright, apple green (or “Seahawks” green, as one bike mechanic described it) to help identify each one. The mechanics are getting on-the-job training to maintain the bikes.

Students and faculty members will sign waivers for the bikes. Some of the stipulations include paying for lost or damaged bikes and wearing helmets.

“We are going to go through our campus rec program, intramurals,” Allen-Schmid said. “They rent out equipment already. A student will just fill out a waiver and put down their credit card number and be good to go.”

Despite the credit card requirement in case of damage or theft, the use of the bicycles will be totally free for students and faculty.

The program will be called Free Range Bikes, Glasser said, and will be advertised with the slogan “Go Green” to play on the eco-friendliness of cycling and the bikes’ neon green color.

Glasser and Allen-Schmid will look for additional grant money for locks and helmets to keep the bikes safe from theft and the bikers safe from harm.

“We want this to promote a healthy lifestyle,” Glasser said. “Someone could bike over to Kidsports to get some exercise during their lunch break.”

Both women would like to see the Free Range program expand should it prove to be a success.

“My dream is to use this program as a prototype for the city of Kalispell,” Allen-Schmid said. “Wouldn’t that be great? That would bring tourists from all over.”

The green bikes would be similar to the mid-1990s Yellow Bike Project in Portland that allowed free use of bikes around the town. Allen-Schmid and Glasser would like to see more bike trails and an effort to make the Flathead Valley more cycling-friendly.

“Why wouldn’t you want to ride?” Allen-Schmid said. “It’s free, it’s healthy and these are good bikes. We are hoping this program is going to take off.”

Reporter Ryan Murray may be reached at 758-4436 or by email at rmurray@dailyinterlake.com.