The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

team of planning stuâ€" Adems at the University of Waterloo recently took part in the TD Bank Go Green Challenge and came up with a plan that could help ease traffic congestion in the region. They were also one of four different projects across Canada to receive $25,000 in seed money to start it. Their solution is simple â€" start a bikeâ€"sharing program. Successful programs already exist in European countries like Spain and France, and there was no reason it couldn‘t work here. That inspired Ben Clare, Jeremy Finkleman and Matthew Lee to put in a propasal called the Velo Bicycle Share program. The three masters students, with the Transportation Research Group at UW and under the tutelage of faculty advisor Jeff Casello, came up with an affordable bikeâ€"sharing program that could work well in Kitchenerâ€"Waterloo and would be started with students attendâ€" ing the local university. "We talked about a few difâ€" ferent possibilities," said Clare. "At first we talked about a bikeâ€" share program for the universiâ€" ty, then we thought a bike share for Kitchenerâ€"Waterloo would have a greater impact." Students are naturally inclined towards alternative modes of transportation, espeâ€" cially bikes. But they also thought the rest of the region showed signs of being early adopters of this type of innovaâ€" tion, and that the region would be the perfect site to launch a Canadian project. "In this area we know that there is going to he quite a bit of growth over the next few years, TD Bank Go Green winners offer a better way to get around the city By Bos VrBanac Chronicle Staff University of Waterloo students Matt Lee, Jeremy Finkleman and Ben Clare are looking to launch a bike sharing service after winning the TD Bank Go Green Challenge. so8 vreANaC PHOTG with 230,000 more peoâ€" ple coming to the area over the next 25 years," said Clare, referencing Ontario‘s Places to Grow plan. "We just thought that a bikeâ€"sharing proâ€" gram with a lot of staâ€" tions around Kâ€"W would be a pretty viable option when people need quick 9 and easy connections. s "And in the regional growth management strategy they‘ve identiâ€" fied that they‘re interestâ€" ed in providing more bike lanes and creating more of a balance for alternative modes of transport to try to get people out of their cars. The bikeâ€"sharing proâ€" gram would bypass tradiâ€" tional bike ownership and allow people to ride them throughout the city Continued on page 10 Area Rugs [ _ YR _ ie 1+950%. |â€"_â€". 4% ~ . es C P# & | "F:w f > sn z> Ec yâ€" i Ceramic _ Laminate ® ¢$0V M ;rir’nom £11 983n ds WATERLOO CHRONICLE + Wednesday, April 23, 2008 * 5 Victoria St. North