High schools and colleges are steering students away from cars to save money on gas, save the environment and promote physical fitness.
This fall, Ripon College in Ripon, Wis., is offering freshmen free mountain bikes, helmets and locks in exchange for a promise not to bring a car to campus. The $300-per-student cost is funded by private donations.

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."

About 60% of the school''s 300 incoming students have signed up.

Today''s teenagers deserve a lot of credit. They''re socially aware, they''re environmentally conscious," says Mike Martin, executive director of the National Association of Pupil Transportation. "When the price of gasoline takes effect, they''re smart."

On other campuses:

• At Auburn University in Auburn, Ala., a bike maintenance shop in the new student union and a bike-sharing program kicks off this fall.

High gas prices have helped the school meet its goal of increasing bike ridership to 12% of students and staff two years ahead of schedule.

• Other bike-loan programs will start or expand this year at colleges in Georgia, Illinois, Maine and Pennsylvania.

• More bike racks, new speed limit signs and a parent carpooling system are among the changes being considered at Hanover Park High School in East Hanover, N.J., to reduce car traffic and to improve students'' safety.

• Howards Grove High School in Howards Grove, Wis., is using a federal grant to create a walking and biking path to the campus, currently accessible only by car or bus. The $100,000 project is scheduled to be done by fall 2009.