Colorado State University students and Fort Collins, Col., citizens have a new alternative to driving this week with the opening of a downtown bike library.

The Fort Collins Bike Library will offer riders the chance to rent bikes free of charge.

Currently, 50 bikes are available to rent, and the library plans to have 220 bikes by the end of next year. Bikes that can be rented vary from mountain bikes to road bikes and range from kid to adult-sized. Trailers for kids or cargo can also be rented.

Renters need to have a valid ID to rent a bike, and bikes can be rented for a week at a time with an hour being the smallest amount of time allotted for renting.

In early efforts to make itself known among students, the library recently teamed with CSU RamWheels to host the first annual CSU Bike to Campus Day today on the LSC plaza from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. Fort Collins Bike, Bike for Fort Collins, Fort Collins Bike Co-op and New World Sports will sponsor the event.

Dave Kemp, the City of Fort Collins bike coordinator, hopes the event will help students gain knowledge about bicycling.

“We will provide information about how students can start biking and about the local bike advocacy, RamWheels,” Kemp said.