Not without my bike

University transit system should consider installing bike racks on buses

For a University that spends a lot of time and money keeping up with the latest “green” trends, it may have missed the bus on one improvement to campus transit.

It’s safe to say that biking is one of the cultural attributes of Athens. The annual Twilight Criterium is only testament to this statement. Athens Transit has done its riders proud with it’s “Bus-N-Bike” program, which allows commuters to securely place their bicycle on foldable bike racks on the front of its buses.

Shouldn’t the University follow suit?

According to Campus Transit, it is up to the driver’s discretion if a bicycle is allowed on the bus, but is typically discouraged because the buses get so crowded.

We get that.

But installing bike racks on at least a few of the buses would allow a safe and convenient option for bike riders, and the editorial board of The Red & Black agrees that the University transit system should consider installing them on its buses.

The racks – which run at about $467 a pop – would not only encourage students to ride bicycles instead of gas-guzzling cars, but would perhaps free up more parking spaces for students who live too far to take the bus and bike.

And as far as pedestrian passengers go, these racks are designed to take less than 20 seconds to load and unload – so using the excuse that it would delay service time is not enough.

Remember the “Go Green Initiative” that was tagged onto the SGA ballot last semester? It’s projects like these that the Go Green Initiative should be funding. (That, or we can keep re-filling the “green” foamy hand soaps in the MLC.)

Anyone who bikes to and from campus knows – navigating the streets of Athens is an uphill battle.

But it shouldn’t be hard to switch gears to make it more convenient for those of us on two wheels.

- Chelsea Cook for the editorial board

Dream (cast) on

Long gone Sega video game console was stepping stone for current gaming

Ten years ago today, the Sega Corporation released a revolutionary video game console that changed the way people played video games.

The Dreamcast, introduced to the U.S market on Sept. 9, 1999, had state-of-the-art graphics and Internet-play capabilities that are second nature to gamers today with Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

But for pre-millennium gamers, the Dreamcast was the arrival of the future. It was Sega’s – the maker of Sonic the Hedgehog – last chance to have a game console compete with video game giant Sony and the up-and-coming Microsoft

Unfortunately, it was almost too ahead of its time. Overheating was a chronic problem and the disk reader often struggled to read its games.

And of course, Sony and Microsoft, which saw the popularity of the Dreamcast, had the opportunity to learn from Sega’s mistakes and make their systems – the PlayStation 2 and the original XBox – better.

And the Dreamcast’s flaws hindered it, as by March of 2001, it was gone from shelves and into the history book as a mere relic – and a stepping stone to video games today.

Sega still exists today as a game maker for Sony and Microsoft, releasing such titles as Alien vs. Predator, the 2K sports series’ and of course, Sonic.

And for a game console ahead of its time, The Red & Black editorial board salutes you and the students helping it live on posthumously.

- Michael Fitzpatrick for the editorial board