Students propose citywide bike share program

Four Whitefish High School students have a vision for their community that involves more people walking or biking to school and work.

Rachel Dunlap, Rose Madison, Marisa Warnick and Cevana Lawshe recently presented their idea for a bike share program to the city of Whitefish. They envision a program that would allow residents and tourists to park their cars at the high school and then bike around town.

“We want to be part of a cultural shift,” Warnick said. “We want to show that walking or riding two blocks to work is faster and better than driving.”

Dunlap said the lack of parking downtown could benefit from a bike share program.

“This could work for people who would park in the high school parking lot and then borrow a bike,” she said. “This could remedy the congestion downtown even for employees who need a place to park.”

The idea has already gotten some traction with city officials.

Councilor Richard Hildner met with the students and said he’s receptive to their ideas.

“I’m excited to see student-driven solutions to a complex problem, he said. “I think we need to encourage further investigation into this.”

Hildner told the Pilot he has committed to facilitate a conversation between the students and the city, along with directing them to contact other organizations that could assist with getting the idea off the ground.

The students have looked into similar bike share programs in larger areas. Some use check out station where the user swipes a credit card to rent the bike for a certain length of time and then returns it. Ideally, they say the city would have multiple stations in addition to one at the high school.

“You could track the bikes and ensure that people are returning them,” Lawshe said. “It would be good to have bike stations in downtown and at City Beach.”

As part of their Geographical Information Science class, the students recently began work on a research project focusing on climate change and the impact of carbon dioxide emissions on the environment. Through their research they learned the Environmental Protection Agency cites transportation as the biggest creator of greenhouse gas emissions.

“We started looking at emissions and that’s what got us curious and where our project began,” Warnick explained. “We hope our data can have an impact and make a change.”

This week they’ll begin using a carbon dioxide meter to measure emissions around Whitefish. They plan to focus on areas where cars are most often idling. Their theory is that a lack of parking — forcing cars to idle longer — likely is contributing to emissions in downtown.

“We’re going to do a route downtown through the congested areas,” Dunlap said. “Look at areas where cars are idling while looking for parking. We want to test in the morning when kids are being dropped off and parents are often idling their cars.”

They also plan to do surveys to find out the reasons why people aren’t choosing to bike or walk.

“We want to isolate those reasons,” Madison said. “We want to do the data collection and continue to work with the city and the community.”

Another idea they have to curb the issue is to add signs around Whitefish Middle School reminding drivers turn off their cars while parked. They also pitched the idea of covered bike racks at the new downtown parking garage currently under construction.

“That’s really a beginning ­­— sometimes it starts with the little things,” Warnick said.

Teacher Eric Sawtelle encouraged the students as part of their project to contact the city with their ideas.

The timing seemed to be perfect as the city has just committed to participating in a climate action task force. In addition, the city is beginning an update of its bicycle and pedestrian master plan which could incorporate their idea for a bike share program.

The four say they couldn’t have imagined the attention their ideas have already gotten as they’ve talked with city councilors, city staff and business owners. They say its rewarding to get that kind of support.

“It’s great that the community is willing to listen to us,” Warnick said.

“I didn’t think we’d get this far and we’ve done well,” Madison added. “Now I’m thinking about what else I could do.”