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Projects Updates for collection: Bicycle Related Projects

  1. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, last week was slow and I did not need the assistance of the student staff. Thankfully, a couple of them were flexible enough to agree to an on-call situation if I needed them. That was a great help to know they were available if needed.

    Volunteer presence last week was surprisingly high. On Thursday we had five people in, all to volunteer. Accordingly, a lot of much-needed organizing and deep cleaning happened. For example: all used tubes have been accounted for: good ones sorted and marked, bad ones in their own pile.

    On Tuesday of last week I closed the shop for CPR-certification class. This week I will set up my other certification class for BBP.

    Last Monday I called in a service order as two of the three heater fans wouldn’t turn on. Thankfully, it has been warm enough and the one still operational fan has been putting out enough heat to keep it comfortable in here.

    I’ll be working today and tomorrow and then back at it January 2nd, 2018. (Weird to type!) Hope everyone has a lovely holiday and a happy new year!

    Visitors: 28

    Sales: $141.80
    Memberships: 2 for $60
    Misc. small parts: 26 for $26

    Sincerely,

    • Jake Benjamin
      Campus Bike Center Manager

  2. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, last week I was sick and missed work on Wednesday. Other than that, it was uneventful. I’ve kept one student worker on per day to help, as it’s been busy enough to warrant it. That has been a pleasant turn of events—being this busy—but will likely end this week with finals happening and all.

    This week projects to be slow and I should be able to make some real headway with building up bikes for the Spring rush. I’ve got 14 for sale right now but will hopefully have about 20 by end of week.

    I have staff training from 11-4 tomorrow, so the shop will be closed as I cannot guarantee that I’ll be done in a timely manner. I’ll post on the website about it.

    The numbers:
    Sales: 281.25
    Memberships: 6 for $180

    Tubes: 3 for $14

    visitors: 41 for the week

    Sincerely,

    • Jake Benjamin
      Campus Bike Center Manager

     

  4. Kick off meeting

    Associated Project(s): 
    Bike at Illinois Website and Campaign

    Creative Services hosted a kick-off meeting for the Bike at Illinois website.  Lily Wilcock is now working with them to schedule interviews with various stakeholders. She is using the following message:

    In efforts to improve the experience and safety of our programs, we will be reimagining the Bike at Illinois website. Our first step involves learning about our key audiences so we can determine how we can best serve them online. We’re asking for participants who are willing to give 1 hour interview to our creative team, who will be asking a series of questions and collecting some key insights. This will help us determine what services and information is available, how to best present these in a website, and how we can improve your experience with us in the future.

  6. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, last week was predictably slow. I cut back almost entirely on student staff since long stretches of open hours were completely vacant of visitors. Thankfully a few student staffers wanted to work on their own bicycle projects and were able to jump in and help out when it got too busy for me to handle everyone on my own. Those instances were rare and brief, presenting a problem from a staffing prospective: not busy enough to keep someone there the whole day but busy enough that a second person is needed. Something to consider for the future is having something like an on-call staffer for the winter months to pitch in the very few times it gets busy.

    Last week we had a TBP/UIUC/CBC meeting that went well. We discussed the forthcoming Bike@illinois website and brainstormed other participants for their research/interviews. Barry and I talked afterwards about potentially implementing some better inventory-tracking ideas to get a better handle on sales/stock.

    This week I only work today (Monday) and then the shop will be closed until Tuesday, Nov. 28th.  I’ll post on the door and on the Bike Project website (and social media pages).

    Numbers:

    Visitors: 55
    Sales: $396.49
    Bikes (refurb): 1 for $70
    Bikes (B-a-B): 2 for $105
    Memberships: 1 for $30

    Hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving!

    Sincerely,

    • Jake Benjamin
      Campus Bike Center Manager

  7. ECS Bike Share Completed

    Associated Project(s): 
    Departmental Bike Sharing
    Campus Bike Center
    Provide Working Bikes for University Employees

    Facilities and Services division Engineering and Construction Services (ECS) has three bikes for employees to share for campus business. Check out is easy and the same as checking out a department car or truck. Two helmets are available for borrowing and lock keys are color coded to the bike they go to.

    Two of the three bikes were purchased through the Campus Bike Center, with locks and front baskets. The helmets came from Neutral Cycle. The whole project cost less than $750 and will have minimum maintenance each year.

    For questions about use please contact Lily Wilcock, lwilco2@illinois.edu.

     

  8. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, last week was surprisingly busy. On Friday we had all the stands full and it was something like 35° outside. That’s encouraging! We even had one person in here in shorts! Our number of for-sale bikes is slowly creeping upward as demand wanes and we have time to build during open hours. From Wednesday to Friday Michael Merriman from Campus Rec borrowed the Bluebird cargo bike for trips between ARC and CRCE (due to construction, there is a lack of car/truck parking) and reported back that he loves it.

    This week I’ll continue to reduce hours for the student workers as well as cull a number of decrepit bikes and pull out the abandoned B-a-Bs. I’ll also begin looking at which student workers are graduating and how many positions I’ll have to fill come spring/summer when it gets busy again. Additionally, I’ll begin designing some new storage and stock solutions to help facilitate ease-of-use for newcomers. More and more I am tucking things away and stacking things upon other things and soon enough I am the only person who knows where anything is. That is bad and quite problematic to the mission and usability of the Campus Bike Center. If people can’t find anything they can’t use the space effectively. I’ll work on labeling/organizing and making things visible this week.

    On to the numbers!

    Visitors: 74
    Overall sales: $493.80
    Memberships: 3 for $90
    Refurb/B-a-B’s: 0 for $0
    Tubes/Wheels/Small Parts: 30 for $179.40

    Sincerely,

    • Jake Benjamin
      Campus Bike Center Manager

  10. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, last week was pretty uneventful. Visitor numbers are declining with the weather getting cooler. I’ve begun cutting back on the student staff as we get fewer and fewer visitors. We’ve got 9 refurbished bikes for sale. With fall coming on strong, I suspect we’ll see a lot of the in-progress build-a-bikes abandoned which can then be flipped for sale quicker than usual.

    This week I will coordinate with Parking to pick up the salvageable bikes from the warehouse as well as build bikes and take stock of inventory.

    The numbers:

    Visitors for the week: 62

    Sales: $187.35
    Refurbished bikes: 0 for $0
    Build-a-bikes: 0 for $0
    Memberships: 0 for $0 (Reinstated our First Visit Free policy, which has hurt these numbers.)
    Tires/tubes: 7 for $42

    • Jake Benjamin
      Campus Bike Center Manager

  11. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, I was out of town yesterday, so this report is a day late.

    Last week was surprisingly busy despite the cooler weather. I thought for sure that the drop in temps would dissuade a lot of people but we still had full stands a few days of the week. More winter commuters, I hope!

    Wednesday afternoon was the Campus Sustainability Celebration that was a lot of fun and very informative. I met quite a few people involved elsewhere in the sustainability world on campus and was able to learn about some of the larger scale work being implemented. Good stuff!

    We’ve outpaced sales in Build-a-Bikes vs. refurbished bikes in the month of October, something that I think bodes well for the CBC. It definitely imparts a larger sense of ownership at the least and certainly more mechanical skill versus  buying our cheaper-than-retail bikes. I noticed this year a few of the bikes that we’ve sold as refurbs made it back in the warehouse after being abandoned; I haven’t found any B-a-Bs there. Obviously that is anecdotal evidence but I think it holds true.

    Last week I was able to rebuild the hanging bike racks in the back to accommodate better the bikes we have. I was interviewed for the New-Gazette story that ran on Sunday to positive reviews, I believe. Bikes are being built faster than they’re being sold now, and that bodes well for the Spring.

    Over the weekend I traveled to Austin, TX and was able to visit a bike cooperative space there and see some of the similarities and differences in their space and model of operation.

    The numbers:
    65 visitors last week
    Sales: $510.20
    Bikes (refurb): 0 for $0
    Bikes (B-a-b): 3 for $185
    Memberships: 4 for $120
    Tires/tubes: 4 for $19


    Sincerely,

    • Jake Benjamin
      Campus Bike Center Manager

  12. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, with warm temps last week the shop remained busy. Friday there was even a line for stand time. Wednesday morning was the bike census. It was wonderful weather for it and I think it went well! One CBC student staffer and a CBC volunteer extraordinaire volunteered for the event, which I was happy to see. Thanks, Leah and Rick!

    On Friday, a Bike Project Volunteer came and picked up all the scrap we’d accumulated in the last few weeks, which will help immensely in organizing and storage.

    Programming alerts: This week is the Campus Sustainability Celebration on Wednesday so the shop will be closed for that; and next Monday (30th) I will be out of town. I will post on the website and Facebook for both closings. (And of course, signage on the door.)

    On to the numbers:

    Visitors: 99
    Sales: $1,066.45
    Bikes (refurb): 1 for $159
    Bikes (B-a-B): 2 for $210
    Memberships: 10 for $300
    Tires/tubes: 24 for $124

    Sincerely,

    • Jake Benjamin
      Campus Bike Center Manager

  14. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, last Monday we had the bike warehouse move out event on Monday. As I mentioned last week, we moved out about 317 bikes. Some of the bikes we kept and moved back to the CBC have already been claimed as build-a-bikes, which is great. The rest will be cleared out at a TBD date.

    Belatedly announcing this but: Lily and I and Amy tabled at an event at the Union on October 5th.  It was a University employee expo of sorts. The very first person I spoke with was misinformed about safe passing distance for cars, something I was able to correct. It was a welcomed change and challenge to inform a lot of vehicular road users about how to interact with bicyclists and pedestrians, considering all the gripes I heard from employees about walkers and bikers—as most employees drive to work from out of town (or at least the ones I spoke with do). I was also pleased to see a lot of familiar faces of people that have visited the Campus Bike Center.

    This week is the bike census, happening on Wednesday. Hopefully we’ll get good weather and a good snapshot of the state of bicycle parking on campus.

    The numbers:

    Sales: $635.50

    Memberships: 13 for $390
    Bikes (Refurb): 0 for $0
    Bikes (B-a-b): 0 for $0
    Tires/tubes: 10 for $54

    Sincerely,

    • Jake Benjamin
      Campus Bike Center Manager

  15. bike census postponed one week

    Associated Project(s): 
    Bicycle Counts

    The campus bicycle census encountered a hiccup today with the weather. Out of worries of a low count due to rain we are going to push the census back one week. Next week’s forecast is sunny and same temperature.

  16. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center
    Bicycle Counts

    All, nothing major to report last week. Shop was open, people came in, same as usual. I coordinated with Working Bikes for our shipping event that happened yesterday. We packed up 317 bikes to go back to their warehouse in Chicago and then onto South Africa. There are still 67 bikes left that WB said they will return for later this fall. There is also a collection of the good bikes we are saving for ourselves. Those total about 50 or so.

    Our new policy of allowing for free used tubes hasn’t caused any problems. Maybe 5-10 people have taken us up on it. Surprisingly one person insisted on patching despite the free tube. That might change next Spring/Summer. It will also help to expedite peoples’ stand time, as it’s obviously quicker to grab a used tube than mess with patching.

    Tomorrow is the Bike Census. I will be helping Lily with that. I will also be shuttling the good bikes from the warehouse back to CBC and moving some over to the Urbana shop as well. CBC is currently packed to the gills with bikes.

    The numbers:
    Visitors: 91
    Sales (overall): $1,221.50

    Memberships: 11 for $330
    Bikes (refurb): 3 for $555
    Bikes (B-a-B): 0 for $0
    Tires/tubes: 18 for $132

    Sincerely,

    • Jake Benjamin
      Campus Bike Center Manager

  17. Bicycle Census 2017

    Associated Project(s): 
    Bicycle Counts

    Hello all!

    Tomorrow morning is the bike census and it is going to be a blast! The weather looks great and the campus will be very seasonally fall like.

    Tomorrow’s event starts at 10 AM and ends at 11 AM. You can finish early! But please finish your whole block or let me know! Training for the event is crucial, because as you start you might start asking some questions about what counts and other questions. Attached is the instructions we will be going over in training tomorrow. Event training starts at 9 AM-9:05-ish. I will have print maps for notes or problems.

     

    REMEMBER TO CHARGE YOUR PHONE TONIGHT!

    Download the app Collector by ESRI sometime today from your respective app store. It is free. There is a log in to the bike census. It is here:

    Username: BikeCensus

    Password: bikecensus2017

     

    Timeline for Tomorrow:

    9 AM to 9:45 AM will be training and answering all questions at the Illini Union, South Patio

    10 AM to 11 AM will be counting.

    11 AM – 11:45 AM if you can, please drop off paper maps for any racks that were not on the map and need to be hand entered. If you can’t, just scan or take a picture and email it to lwilco2@illinois.edu or jvwhit@illinois.edu

     

    Map Block Assignment

    Map link is here: http://goo.gl/Cbq9Fj

    1

    Greg Briggs

    2

    Aki Akhauri

    3

    Aaron Hoyle-Katz

    4

    Audrey

    5

    Rand Hartsell

    6

    Jeff Yockey

    7

    Lily Wilcock

    8

    Tom McGreary

    9

    Marcus Ricci

    10

    Kevin Garcia

    11

    Ari Wolfe

    12

    Daniel Dodinval

    13

    Yazen Kashlan

    14

    Colleen Williams

    15

    Jake Benjamin

    16

    Hila Kelly

    17

    Lily Wilcock

    21

    Lily Wilcock

    24

    Saniya Rattan

     

    Honestly, I cannot thank all of you volunteers enough. Personally, I love technology and I love it when we can use it to make our communities better. Thank you for your hard work and James Whitacre at the Scholarly Commons and I will be typing away to process this information and get it in your hands and the hands of campus planners, engineers, architects, and administration.

    With all this being said, tomorrow have a good sense of humor, walk and bike quickly, and have fun counting every bike we can!

    Thank you,

     

    Lily Wilcock and James Whitacre

     

    Visiting Active Transportation Coordinator

    Facilities and Services

    University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

     

    Give to the Campus Bike Plan Fund at http://go.illinois.edu/bikefund

    Attached Files: 

  18. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center
    Light the Night

    All, the major news of last week was the Light The Night event. We installed roughly 870 light sets this year! We completely sold out, which is a first for me in the 4 or so years in which I’ve been involved with this event. With it still being warm out, I hope we can get some valuable feedback from people who’re using the lights in regards to which ones they like, how they’re performing, etc.

    Last week was also the Members’ Meeting for the Bike Project wherein it was decided that used tubes will henceforth be free of charge for in-shop repairs. While this will cut into profits, it is a better choice as we do not have the ability to maintain proper quality control with our used tube selection. If a person wants to buy a tube for later use, however, they must still pay for it.

    Late Friday I got a message from Working Bikes in regards to coordinating for emptying the Bike Warehouse. They would like to do the event next Monday (October 9th). I will discuss with the Bike Project and decide if this is doable.

    The numbers:

    Sales (overall): $867.95
    Memberships: 12 for $360

    Bikes (refurbished): 0
    Bikes (Build-a-Bike): 0
    Tires/Tubes: 26 for $180

    Sincerely,

    • Jake Benjamin
      Campus Bike Center Manager

  19. Transportation SWATeam Meeting

    Associated Project(s): 
    Bicycle Counts
    Decrease Emissions from UI Fleet
    Offset Emissions from Plane Trips
    Transportation SWATeam

    The Transportation SWATeam had it's first meeting of the year. They discussed progress on the Transportation iCAP objectives, the status of related projects and proposals, and their priorities for the year. The team identified the following three areas on which they plan to focus in the coming meetings: 

    1. Exploring options for offsetting air travel emissions

    2. Pursuing a comprehensive intermodal transit survey (one for students and one for faculty)

    3. Assessing the feasibility of various options to reduce emissions from the campus fleet

    The next meeting is on October 12th.

    Attached Files: 

  20. Transportation iCAP efforts in progress

    Associated Project(s): 
    Transportation SWATeam
    Use Electric Vehicles (EV) on Campus
    Decrease Emissions from UI Fleet
    Install Public Use Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging Stations
    Offset Emissions from Plane Trips
    Increase Public Transportation Use
    Upgrade Bike Parking U-loops
    Bike Sharing
    Bike at Illinois Website and Campaign

    Hello Transportation SWATeam members,

    Thank you again for your willingness to help our campus achieve the Climate Leadership Commitments.  There is great value provided by the bi-weekly meetings of student, faculty, and staff representatives evaluating our progress and recommending additional actions campus units could take.

    The following is a list of current activities I am aware of, and suggestions I have about useful next steps.  I am happy to follow up with you on any of these, as needed.

    Thank you very much,

    ~Morgan

    Transportation

    1. EV analysis for department’s assigned vehicles – Hursh Hazari worked with Pete Varney’s data to evaluate the possibility of replacing some fleet vehicles with EVs.  https://icap.sustainability.illinois.edu/project/use-electric-vehicles-ev-campus
    2. Pete Varney has established the F&S fleet as a certified green fleet.  Pete, do you create an annual report for the status of that which you can share?  If not, can you provide an update to the SWATeam and to me? 
    3. Last year the SWATeam discussed encouraging additional campus units to get certified as green fleets.  Your team could submit a recommendation for another unit (or more than one) to pursue that certification. 
    4. New EV Chargers – Scott Willenbrock is working on one at the Illini Union + Phil Krein is interested in getting more Type 1 chargers for the North Campus Parking Deck.
    5. Potential EV Study – At the Oct. 11 Workshop for the Living Lab research connections to iCAP, there will be seed funding offered and the study for transitioning to EVs could collect and use data on campus vehicle use.  Pete has example data, which could be used to support the request for seed funding, which could then possibly fund data collection for the study.
    6. We do not yet have new air travel emission data.  iSEE is working on creating a virtual storeroom to offer carbon offsets to campus units to voluntarily buy air travel offsets.  The storeroom has funding for the first 10,000 offsets, but I understand there was a hurdle on selecting appropriate offsets with additionality.  I recommend asking Ben McCall and Scott Willenbrock about it.
    7. A new Mode split survey is needed as soon as possible.  Lily Wilcock intends to bring this as an item for discussion.  We would appreciate it if you would help define the survey questions, and then iSEE can help distribute the survey to get updated figures. 
    8. Bike Plan – I suggest you ask Stacey DeLorenzo to join one of your meetings to give an overview of the status of the Bike Plan infrastructure upgrades.
    9. Lily has funding for a Bike at Illinois website, which Creative Services will develop in the winter and spring months this fiscal year. 
    10. Lily has worked with MTD to offer bus tours to show campus staff how to use the MTD.  We teach all our new student how to ride, but none of the new employees get the personal introduction.  These tours are very successful, when they are organized with a specific department or location. 
    11. Bike Parking – there is a significant capacity issue, which is noticeable just by looking around campus, especially during class hours in the core area.  Lily has a new website that she can show you, and there is an upcoming Bike Census, which your team members should help with.
    12. Bike Sharing – a handful of dockless bike sharing companies are wanting to come to town/campus.  To manage their impacts (imagine bikes in the boneyard) they will be required to obtain city permits.  Lily is asking the SSC to use the funds they allocated to bike sharing for additional bike parking areas in the heart of campus.
    13. MCORE – this project has several impacts on multi-modal transportation.  You can learn more at http://www.mcoreproject.com/project-construction-updates.

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