UNC students find fastest methods to get around

There is a common enemy for all when it comes to traversing the hilly campus of UNC — the distance.

With a campus that spans 729 acres, students have gotten creative with ways of getting from place to place.

While most students prefer to walk or ride the bus, a few brave students have unique methods of traveling across campus in spite of the impending danger of pedestrians and bricks.

Walking around campus, one may see a wide array of transportation used by students.

Popular methods of transportation at UNC include bicycles, unicycles, skateboards, longboards and —the best of them all — hoverboards.

Senior Hunter

Brake is one of those students who uses an alternative form of transportation. His method of choice: a penny board.

“The best part is definitely, by far, convenience and it is also really fun,” he said.

“I can take it into class and put it under my seat. I don’t have to lock it up.”

Karin Li,

a first-year student, also cites convenience as a key reason she rides her Razor scooter to class.

She said riding the scooter takes significantly less time than just walking on campus, and the Razor’s ability to fold up makes it easy to take into class.

Her ride to class only takes 10 minutes as opposed to the normal 15 minutes it takes to walk from South Campus, shaving that extra five minutes off of her total travel time.

However, using these methods of transportation is not always fun for everyone.

First-year Mabry Harrison

, who does not use any unique form of transportation, thinks these methods can be inconvenient and unsafe, saying the biggest challenge is that pedestrians cannot walk as fast as the transit speeding by them.

“Some of the bikes tend to go very fast and make me fear for my life,” she said.

The most alternative method Harrison has seen around campus is the unicycle.

According to Li and Brake, these alternative methods of getting around can also cause casualties for the users.

Li said she belly-flopped on the bricks covering Ram’s Head parking garage on South Campus due to the width of the bricks.

And, about a year ago, Brake crashed on Manning Drive, injuring the entire left side of his body and scarring his shoulder, knees, elbows, back and leg.

“It was bad. All of this was bleeding,” he said, pointing to his leg, “and it didn’t close up for like a week.

“So, every night it would just stay open, and it was horrible.

“The worst part is if you eat shit, you eat shit hard,” he said.

Despite the casualties, Brake — like so many students who value the convenience over the risks — still returns to the board.

“I like it, and I only have good things to say about it.”

@maggsmouat

arts@dailytarheel.com