Because it’s cheaper to fuel yourself than your car. Because you need to shake free of couch lethargy. Because one group has been loaning them away for free. In the Jeopardy game of life the question to these answers is simple: why commute by bicycle? And the folks at SPOKES are making it easy for students and members of the campus community to get on a bike for free through their bursary bicycle loan program.

Every month SPOKES gives out roughly 40 bikes that recipients can hold on to for up to a year. In return, the organization asks firstly that recipients bring the bikes back in better shape than they received them, and secondly that they donate five hours a month to the program or program sponsors.

Volunteering with SPOKES is time well spent. The bicycles are all recycled donations that arrive at the shop in various states of disarray.

Your five hours a month can be spent learning about bikes from the wheels up, and turning rusted clunkers into smooth rides with the guidance of friendly bike mechanics. SPOKES also offers grease-free volunteer opportunities such as postering, or the option to revamp the website.

Applications to the program are processed on the last Friday of every month and can be found at the bike shop in the basement parking garage of the University Centre.

Bursary bikes come with locks and subsidized rates are available for helmets and lights. SPOKES also runs commuter cycling courses and offers tuning tips, cycling maps and copies of the Cycle Safe Guide. They’ve also introduced a rental program that will be useful to visitors spending a few weeks on campus — bikes can be rented for up to three weeks at a rate of $2.50 per day.

December marks SPOKES’ fifth-year anniversary. Sarah Webb, UVic’s sustainability co-ordinator who works in the Budget Office, has been there from the beginning.

“We started out with one fleet of 15 bikes and now we’ve loaned out more than 1,000,” Webb said. “I’m really excited to see where it has come from and how it’s grown.”

To celebrate its fifth anniversary, SPOKES has a community celebration in the works for mid-December. There will also be random acts of kindness through early December with “treats” left on parked bikes for cyclists. Webb would not reveal the nature of the treats. Early January will see SPOKES holding a bike repair by donation event near the Petch fountain.

“Cycling is a great way to live an active lifestyle, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and save money. And one of the big benefits is that you really do feel like a part of a community,” said Webb.

“We’ve come up with a model that works. It’s about people sharing skills.”

Webb said the program has transplanted it to other campuses across the country, including the University of P.E.I.

Data gathered from the surveys that were filled out by people returning their bikes proves the impact of the program. Eighty-five per cent of participants said that they would buy a bike of their own for commuting, and that makes Webb very happy.

“We need to work towards transportation options that help us get to a less car-dependent world,” she said.