Emily Hepner
Assoc. Features Editor

Let’s be honest, walking around campus and town can get boring day after day, even if you do have Millersville’s beautiful scenery and some good tunes to accompany you. While walking is great for your health, there’s a better alternative to getting around the area; bicycling.

Riding a bicycle as opposed to other forms of transportation has been a trend that has been catching on for the past few years and is one that can frequently be seen both on campus and in town. Bicycling can be quite the work out and may seem more tiring than it’s worth, but it’s actually very valuable to your health and the environment. Here are five reasons you should start riding a bike as your new form of transportation.

Biking has been catching on as a trend as an alternative form of transportation for the past few years.
Biking has been catching on as a trend as an alternative form of transportation for the past few years.

1. It saves time. If you live in Gaige and have a class in Roddy/Caputo, your walk can easily be about twenty-minutes long. However if you were to ride a bike to class, it would shave your commute down by at least ten minutes. This could provide you with extra time to sleep in or to finish cramming for your tests, either way you’re saving yourself much needed time.

2. Bicycling is safer. According to Business Insider the more cyclists on the road, the safer the road becomes. “The likelihood that an individual cyclist will be struck by a motorists falls with increasing rate of bicycling in a community,” states injury expert, Dr. Julie Hatfied. Millersville experiences high traffic volumes during peak commute hours, but if more people rode a bike, the rate of accidents and traffic would be much smaller.

3. It has numerous positive health effects. As mentioned before, bicycling can be quite the workout, and as everyone knows exercise is helpful to your body. Andy Clarke, president of the League of American Bicyclists says, “Cycling gets your legs moving and your heart pumping without pounding your joints.” While running is a good workout, it can cause various joint pains and problems down the road, biking can spare you these problems.

Not only that, but bicycling has been reported to reduce stress. According to Men’s Fitness, bike commuters have reported lower levels of stress as opposed to those who travel by car or public transportation. So not only does biking provide your body positive physical health effects, but also mental health effects, both important things to college students.

4. Cycling is good for the environment. If more people started to use bicycles as opposed to cars and buses, it would have a positive effect on the environment due to the lack of exhaust fumes in the air. National Geographic explains that motor vehicles produce more than 30% of carbon dioxide emissions, 80% of the carbon monoxide emissions, and nearly half of the US’s nitrogen oxide emissions each year. Think about how much these numbers could be reduced if more people rode a bike instead.

5. It makes you feel free. There’s nothing better than having a strenuous uphill bike ride that is quickly followed by a wonderful downhill release. The wind blows in your face and through your hair, noises around you whiz by and all you can hear is the sound of your tires rotating, and for a few seconds you feel uninhibited by everything around you. It nearly feels as if the bike isn’t beneath you and you’re practically floating down the street.

So whatever your excuse is, it’s time to push it to the side and give biking a shot!