Despite the high priced and high caliber education each student receives at Biola, we’re still not allowed to ride and park our bikes where we please because of regulations enforced by Campus Safety.

Of all the written rules, the most expansive ones are about where bikers can and can’t ride. For example, did you know that you can’t ride your vehicle at all around McNally or in front of the Library?

The map for vehicle-riding permitted areas can be found on the Campus Safety section of Biola’s website. Essentially, students are only allowed to ride on the main road through Biola’s campus, although you can find many scooters and bikes everywhere else at any given time. These non-permitting rules prove incredibly inconvenient for traveling to class quickly, and odd because there are bike racks placed all over campus where we’re not formally supposed to have bikes.

Also extensive are the regulations about permits and safety accessory requirements. According to Campus Safety’s rules, every vehicle that is ridden on Biola’s campus must display a parking permit — or they’ll be fined $25. Students are also required to have front and back reflectors on their bikes for night riding, or they’ll earn a $30 fine.

Similarly, a student rider can’t lock up their wheeled vehicles to anything but a bike rack. Not buildings, railings or trees, or else they’ll be fined $25.

So if I were to ride my bike without reflectors between Hope Hall and the baseball field, not displaying a bike permit, and then park it by chaining it to a railing, I could incur a $105 ticket for all my rule-breaking.

As a bike rider, I can’t say that I follow the regulations perfectly myself, but part of the reason could also be that there are so many of them that are superfluous and extraneous.

Because of how much we’re paying to go to this wonderful institute, and because we’re all Christians and respectful by default, there should be more freedoms for bike riding around our campus and less restricting rules. I am not arguing for expanded freedom of territory for riders, but for responsible use of the territory they already have.

This may sound haughty and prideful, but I firmly believe in getting a university experience worthy of the price tag, and that includes easy and fast travel around campus. Also, I believe that there wouldn’t be many problems if the Campus Safety guidelines didn’t exist because as Christians we’re called to a higher standard of living.

Most students on campus are adults, anyhow, and so should be responsible by taking any precautions they feel necessary for their own safety — without being fined. If a rider is irresponsible, they’ll suffer the adult consequences like having their bike without a bike stolen with no possibility of having it identified, or getting hurt while they ride in restricted areas.

Finally, if Campus Safety does not want us to park our vehicles on railings or buildings, there should be more bike racks in more central locations so that overflow parking will not end up in unwanted places. I’ve never had an issue with bikes parked around on railings, but I have had problems with improper neighboring parking techniques.

There is implicit bike etiquette among bike riders alike that doesn’t involve written rules, like not crossing your lock over your neighbor’s on the bike rack. Also, it includes simple concepts like not riding close to cars or pedestrians. Maybe Biola’s Campus Safety could make more rules about hindrances  like lock-crossing that instead of having general restricting rules that are unnecessary to abide by.

All in all, I think that riders around campus are courteous and kind to those around them, without the restricting rules of Campus Safety. I can’t say that it would be the same at many other universities because here we are more than the student body of Biola, we all recognize that we’re the body of Christ. Overall, I think that our actions reflect that, and so the rules that restrict already respectful riders just makes getting around more difficult than it should be.