ATLANTA --- Emory University is hoping to make bikes the must-have back-to-school accessory this fall.

The school is selling discounted bicycles to students and faculty, adding bike lanes to campus roads and stocking bikes that can be borrowed for free. The university is pushing its $250,000 "Bike Emory" initiative, launched a year ago, in hopes of convincing students and faculty that the eco-friendly bikes are a better alternative to their four-wheeled, gas-guzzling counterparts.

Cycling already has a foothold at many colleges, where hefty parking fees, sprawling campuses and limited roads make it tough to travel. Still, most students are reluctant to leave their cars parked.

Ripon College, outside Oshkosh, Wis., is giving away $300 bikes to freshmen who leave their cars at home.

"I think a big draw is just the environmental aspect," said freshman Regina Nelson, who readily signed up for a free bike. "And, honestly, I think that anything free when you're in college is good, especially something like a bike that is worth something."

Emory started a bike-share program a couple of months ago. It has 20 bikes now, but that will double by this fall, said Jamie Smith, who oversees the initiative.

At Duke University in Durham, N.C., the bike-share program started last year had to start a waiting list because all 100 bikes were checked out within a few weeks. Now the school spends $24,000 each year on the program, and most of its bikes are checked out every day, said Watts Magnum, who runs the program.

Back at Emory, employee Casey Brinsfield checks out bikes each week to attend meetings across campus from her office. On a recent afternoon, she and a co-worker donned their helmets and headed down a hill toward the main part of Emory's campus.

"It's easier than getting a car out and finding parking," Ms. Brinsfield said before the duo rode away. "It's definitely less pollution and it's safer for pedestrians."