With fall approaching, colleges across the US are encouraging students to come to campus without their cars. In Atlanta, Emory University is selling $250,000 worth of bikes, at a discount, to students and faculty. CNN reports that bike-share programs have started or will soon launch at Duke, the University of Washington, and at least two public universities in Illinois.

Meanwhile, at Ripon College in Ripon, Wisconsin, freshmen who pledge to come to school without a car will receive a free $300 mountain bike, along with a helmet and lock.

The college’s president, David Joyce, says the
project was meant to avoid building a parking garage, but its side
effects are beneficial: less pollution, more exercise and savings on
gas.

The timing was right, Joyce says: "We were either extremely brilliant or extremely lucky."

High schoolers are getting in on the act as well, with bike and pedestrian projects underway at campuses from East Hanover, NJ to Marin County, CA. Are you listening, Bridgewater-Raritan administrators?

Photo of Emory employees by John Bazemore/AP