A sociology professor said he is using purple bicycles to preserve the world for future generations. The Purple Bike Program, which creator Keith Whitworth, sociology professor, said has become nationally renowned, currently has five bikes,

These five original bicycles were purchased with a $4,080 Vision In Action grant.

He said the funds not only go toward the bikes, which are budgeted at $500, including a helmet, lock, and other supplies, but also advertising and marketing for the program and GPS units. Whitworth said he would like each bike to have a GPS unit so they can be tracked and monitored to see where they travel most.

Whitworth said his biggest obstacle with his program is not having enough bikes.

To change that, he has submitted a $60,000 grant for 100 bikes. He ultimately wants 500.

“With 500 bikes, the campus will move more toward becoming more of a residential campus,” Whitworth said. “Students, faculty and staff will be constantly reminded to think ‘green’ as the purple bikes cruise through the campus.”

The goal with the Purple Bike Program, Whitworth said, is to “utilize the resources of today, so we don’t have to compromise the resources of future generations.”

“Basically, my motivation is my kids,” Whitworth said. “They’re the ones having to react to my generation’s abuses of our earth and they’re going to have to somehow reverse them.”

More than 100 students and faculty members signed up last semester to rent a bike for a day or a week. With such a turnout, Whitworth said, he will raffle off names the third week of January to determine who gets to ride a bike.

He said he hopes to purchase more bikes with money received from donations and through ads on the spokes of the bicycle wheels, a “rolling advertisement” for the companies that participate.

Sarah Warner is one of the 60 student volunteers who participate in the program to protect the environment and promote a healthier lifestyle.

“We’re not really a generation that rides bikes,” said Warner, a junior sociology major. “This is a great way to change that.”

The program started as a hands-on project for his Applied Sociology class two years ago, Whitworth said.

Potentially, Whitworth said, he would like freshmen to have the opportunity to purchase a bike for four years at $400, with free monthly maintenance.

Whitworth said he hopes his program also encourages students to bring bikes from home. Free monthly maintenance will extend to them as well, but they won’t have the one-of-a-kind purple bike.

“We decided to spend a little extra money on them to make them appealing,” Whitworth said.

Whitney Barnard, a junior radio-TV-film and communication studies major, hopes the Purple Bike Program will mean great publicity and a new tradition for TCU.

Whitworth said one of his concerns was that students wouldn’t want to wear the helmets provided with the bikes. He said when students rent a bike, they are required to sign a waiver saying they are responsible for the bike and themselves.

Barnard said she would love to ride the bike, but when it came to wearing the helmet, she said, “I don’t know if I’d go that far.”

Online sign-up for the bikes will be posted soon, and the program will have a formal kickoff in March.