Before every school year, students decide whether to bring a bicycle, skateboard or car to campus to help them get around, or just rely on their own two feet.

Opinions on whether to bike, walk or board vary from student to student.

“I think walking is the best way to get around campus for sure,” said Lydia Au, sophomore in LAS. “Walking allows people to get nice exercise. You can always walk with people, get to know them better and create a better bond.”

But Ahmad Shams, sophomore in Engineering, prefers biking around campus.

“Bikes make it a lot easier to move around quicker and mean that instead of leaving for my 10 a.m. class at 9:40, I can leave a little after 9:50 and still get there in time,” he said.

Students like Shams and Au provide cases for why walking and biking are beneficial modes of transportation on campus, but both recognize the flaws they pose as well.

“There are some cons to walking. It’s not fun to walk when you’re carrying a lot of stuff and when you’re running late,” Au said.

Rain and snow are a pedestrian’s worst nightmare, she added.

Walkers are also more prone to being stopped by solicitors, Au said. People may stop you and hand out fliers or ask for money.

While bikers may not get stopped as often and are swift to reach their destinations, they face some issues as well, most of which are due to the large amount of walkers on campus.

“A lot of people walk on the bike paths, which means biking is pretty dangerous at times,” Shams said. “Some people also don’t look when crossing in front of the bike paths and will walk right in front of you. When you’re going 12-plus miles per hour, hitting someone on a bike can be pretty dangerous.”

Driving is another transportation option. While having a car on campus may not be as accessible to some students as walking or riding a bike, driving can be an efficient way around campus.

Nora Johnson, senior in Media, enjoys having a car on campus because she can go where she wants when she wants.

“I especially love having a car for the weekends and to go to the grocery store,” Johnson said.

However, she said finding parking when driving to class is difficult and expensive and that paying to have a car on campus is very costly.

Johnson thinks the easiest and best way to get around campus is the bus because we pay for the MTD bus service with our student fees.

Shams, who prefers biking around campus, agrees that public transportation is possibly the best way around the University and Champaign-Urbana.

“I don’t know if biking is the best way to get around campus, but it’s personally my favorite,” Shams said. “Some people love the bus system and know how to get anywhere on campus through the buses, while other people love their longboards and bikes.”

Still, it comes down to personal opinion. Au said biking also poses the risk of theft and the hassle of finding a space to park and lock a bicycle. Walking allows her to have extra time to think and appreciate the campus.

The University has a lot of students getting from A to B in different ways, all depending on the type of person. If you are one to take things nice and slowly, you might prefer to walk, but if you prefer to be hasty and punctual, biking or other means such as roller blading or longboarding could be the way for you.