The Student Government Association has recently approved funding for a new bike-share initiative at St. Olaf. The initiative was proposed by Secretary of Local Impact Elijah Sonntag ’25, Local Impact Member Lily Spoerke ’27, and Environmental Senator Emily Breuch ’25 on February 25 and approved by SGA on March 4. The project aims to give St. Olaf students access to more transportation options and promote green transportation.
The current plan for the program is to purchase 10 bikes that students can use to ride around Northfield. There will be a checkout system implemented, making students responsible for what happens to the bikes while in use. In an interview with The Olaf Messenger, Sonntag shared the vision behind the initiative.
“Being able to get into town and get what you need is hard, so being able to have free bikes for the student body would be a huge benefit,” he said.
This new bike share initiative has officially been in the works since November 2024, though the St. Olaf Environmental Coalition had begun the brainstorming process years prior.
Through Sonntag’s connections, the Local Impact Board and the Environmental Coalition collaborated to create a proposal.
“Things really got rolling this semester,” said Breuch in an interview with The Olaf Messenger.
St. Olaf has previously tried two iterations of bike share programs, neither of which ultimately survived. The students spearheading this new initiative are working hard to ensure that the program sticks around for a long time.
One way that they are ensuring longevity is by splitting the costs of the initiative between the Environmental Coalition, Local Impact Board, and the Projects and Capitals Fund that belongs to SGA.
“It’s difficult to get good sustainability projects going and set up. There’s so much communication, partnership, and long-term planning involved that you can’t just buy 10 bikes and say we’re good — it’s a lot more complicated,” Breuch said. “It’s making me feel really excited to see that one of these projects is close to happening. We will hopefully build it to last a long time so it becomes a part of St. Olaf that doesn’t go away.”
While the funding has been approved by SGA, there is still much to figure out before the project can become a reality.
“I think we’re in a good spot to have funding, we just have a few key things that we’re waiting on,” Sonntag said. “Then we can get to the fun part of it.”
