Bike the Trinity Trails took place Oct. 3, encouraging students and faculty to see what the college provides for them outside of the classroom.
In an effort to expose students to the transportation services available, TR student development coordinator Carly Johnston organizes many events to help students interact with one another and see what the campus has to offer.
“So today’s event is part of a longer series called ‘TCC Out on the Town’ and the goal of that whole program is to get students off campus for a variety of reasons,” she said.
Johnston said the program helps students who may not have had an opportunity to have fun off campus and connect with their peers while developing a sense of belonging.
Brianna Gomez, a student development coordinator with Student Activities, joined the event to get more comfortable riding a bike and was scared at first but felt confident afterwards.
Gomez said there are more benefits for students riding a bike rather than other forms of transportation due to carbon dioxide release.
“We talked about the carbon neutral thing, like teaching them that there’s alternatives to maybe starting your car if it’s like a five-minute drive or something close, especially because downtown is so connected like you can walk anywhere,” Gomez said.
The program has led students to this bike event, a Rangers game and museum trips along with many more to come.
“So, the whole program came as a result of a leadership project I did about a year ago that showed that TCC pride was very low,” Johnston said.
Johnston said that in comparison to schools like UT Arlington and TCU, students are often not seen wearing TCC T-shirts and other merchandise in public.
With exposure to meeting other students and the ability to make friends, participants of the program can be more involved with their school.
Events like this give students swag to show them they are important to the college’s community.
“The main goal is to like get students off campus to have some fun and then through that process get them to appreciate being a member of the TCC community,” Johnston said.
Participants were given the option to either bring their own bike or rent one from the Trinity Metro bike stalls around campus through the Easy Ride Program, which allows students access to Trinity Metro buses, TEXRail, rideshare vans and the Trinity Railway Express.
“We had an event this past spring semester where we rode the Orange Line, which is one of the bus routes for Trinity Metro,” Johnston said.
According to Trinity Metro, students with a student ID can access most transportation methods for free.
“The point of that event was to get them to get on a bus and get their ID card and learn how to use it so they’re not nervous to use public transportation on their own if they need it in the future,” she said.
The program has various stalls for rental bicycles set up around downtown Fort Worth.
“As long as students are enrolled in three credit hours or 48 continuing education contact hours, they are good to go!” Trinity Metro website stated.
Events like the Bike the Trinity Trails could spread awareness for students about the program, and if enough students show interest, maybe one day the bikes could be accessed for free as they do buses and rideshare vans.
“I guess that’s another goal for today would be for them to learn how to use the Trinity Metro bike system and like navigate the app and navigate renting a bike,” said Johnson, who said the event will likely repeat in the spring.
