The University of Mississippi will soon be making it easier for students, Oxford residents and visitors to save gas, get some exercise and enjoy the scenery by biking around the campus and downtown Oxford.

The university’s new Bike Share Program will launch on Sept. 13 with hubs located in several locations on campus and one on the Square.

The six hubs on campus will be located at the Student Union, Luckyday Residential College, Lamar Hall, Minor Hall, the bike shop and at the Robert C. Khayat Law Center. The downtown Oxford hub will be located in the courtyard behind City Hall.

The program will be web-based, where people can rent a bicycle online at www.gotchabike.com/ole-miss once it goes live or through the Social Bicycles app. After Sept. 13, download the app and select the “Ole Miss Bike Share” network.

There are two available plans, depending on one’s affiliation with the university. The University Plan is for students, staff and faculty – who have an olemiss.edu or go.olemiss.edu email address. Members can rent a bike for two hours a day at no cost and $4 an hour for additional hours. The Community Plan allows one hour of free ride with $5 an hour for additional time. There is no membership fee and riders can “hold” 30 minutes a day during their rental period to allow riders time to stop to grab a drink or use the bathroom or simply to stop and rest for a few minutes.

After registering online or through the app, riders receive a 4-digit PIN code to unlock keypad on the bike. At the end of the trip, members lock their bike at one of the designated bike racks within the hub for free or any bike rack on campus for a small fee. Bikes returned outside of the bike system map will incur a $50 fee.

Oxford Senior Planner Ben Requet said the city and university have had several conversations about starting a bike share program and recently, the university finally set the plan in motion.

“Mike Harris, director of University Parking was the lead on this effort and his team deserves all the credit,” Requet said. “Mike informed me that they would really like to put a Hub somewhere near the Square and we gladly found a location for it.”