<p>I'm going to santa clara next year and was wondering if anyone would recommend getting a bike.</p>
<p>I am a parent and have visited a couple times. There are a LOT of bikes on campus, but none of them were moving!?! I did see several long boards rolling by. The campus is small and walkable. Perhaps the bikes are used to venture off campus for shopping, entertainment or meals. Santa Clara is flat so bicycling is easy. Also, Caltrain allows bikes on every train – always in the Northern-most car and often in two cars. You can carry your bike onto the Caltrain and go so many places. In fact, there is a Caltrain/Bart station and a caltrain/amtrak station and you can take bikes on those, too. It is so much easier to get around and explore on a bike instead of trying to take public transit or rent a car or a taxi or something.</p>
<p>so if im understanding this right…if i want to go places beyond campus, a bike is a good idea. But within campus, like going to class, its not necesary?</p>
<p>The campus itself is fairly compact and a bike is not necessary to get between classes. Off-campus a bike is handy, but as the campus is right next to the public transit system, one can get around via bus, CalTrain (going to SF) and etc.</p>