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Projects Updates for Departmental Bike Sharing

  1. 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.

     

  2. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center
    Departmental Bike Sharing

    All, Happy Monday! Last week was a steady busy one. We routinely had peaks of busyness and fallow valleys. We had 97 visitors through the doors, including staff. We grossed $951.50. We sold two bikes for $335; one build-a-bike for $61; and 4 memberships for $120.

    Overall, last week I was met with a little more enthusiasm for the space than I regularly receive upon explaining the cost structure and mission of the CBC to new visitors. That was nice. Our for-sale bike count after last week sits at 14 for-sale bikes. I keep trying to grow that number up into the 20s but people keep buying them. That’s not a bad thing, I suppose.

    Additionally, the two Departmental Share bikes need parts that are on-order so that project will be delayed, unfortunately.

    Our numbers for B-a-Bs last year was quite low and as such I will begin photographing—with permission—all those who complete build-a-bikes and posting them on social media, which will serve two important functions: advertising for CBC and its most education-intensive program; and having a picture of owner and bicycle in the event of a stolen or lost bike.

    This week I am going to cull a few more unbuiildable bikes from the pile and concentrate heavily on ramping up the for-sale numbers since this week of cold, snowy weather should keep the shoppers at bay. I will additionally focus on drop-bar bicycles, since I’ve noticed people requesting and looking for those more than the about-town cruisers and flat-bar bikes we have for sale, irrespective of how well-suited they are to campus riding.

    Sincerely,

    Jake Benjamin

    Campus Bike Center Manager

  3. Final Report by Logan Ebling

    Associated Project(s): 
    Departmental Bike Sharing
    Sustainability Minor

    Logan’s final paper. Pretty fun.

     

    Highlights:

    • “[Bicycle fleets] promotes positive social interactions.”
    • “..I think most of these worries go away [about bike fleets]… one issue that  I saw coming up almost every time a discussion …was money. While totally understandable, it is also frustrating that there is a lack of desire to spend even a low amount of money to purchase one bicycle for employee use.”
    • “…If they [departments] truly don’t have the money to spend, then perhaps the University as a whole should be assigning a sustainability budget specifically to each department that they can spend at their discretion in the name of sustainability.”
    • “Bicycling on campus is the fastest mode of transportation; however, that would not be the case if the bikes are not located conveniently right outside your door or at least at a building next door. For bike sharing dock-style to match the convenience of a dedicated bicycle at the department’s building, the docks would have to be ubiquitous across campus, quite literally outside every building. Financially and logistically, I don’t think that is possible. To me, departmental bicycle fleets would be entirely more convenient for staff needing to get around campus quickly and efficiently.”

     

    And, lastly, “In my opinion, the benefits are so numerous [for bike fleets] that the University should be aggressively funding and initiating bicycle fleets on campus.”

    ~per Lily Wilcock

    Attached Files: 

  4. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center
    Departmental Bike Sharing

    All, this past week we had 107 visitors. We grossed $1,185.60. We sold 11 memberships; 1 bike for $120; 1 build-a-bike for $75.

    This past week I also reinstated the First Visit Free policy that The Bike Project had kindly let me suspend for the new school year rush. Traffic to CBC has slowed enough that I can accommodate small and easy repairs. I don’t have numbers on that but it was only a few people that had minor enough problems to warrant a free visit; most who think they have a small repair in truth have many, many small repairs equaling large amounts of time/resources and we have them become members.

    On Monday of last week our cargo bike Bluebird was loaned to the Psychology Department for a day.  Lily delivered and retrieved it from them and I believe it was a successful endeavor.

    This coming week will be a short one. I will be out of town Thursday and Friday. During this abbreviated week I plan to work on storage ideas for the surplus of wheels we have in the shop, strip the half a dozen or so bikes that are taking up dead space, as well as the standard operations of building bikes and managing new-parts inventory.

    Jake Benjamin
    Campus Bike Center Manager

  5. e-Week survey message

    Associated Project(s): 
    Departmental Bike Sharing

    Facilities and Services is collecting information on departmental bicycle fleets as part of the Campus Bicycle Plan. If you are interested in options for how to better sustain, grow or optimize your existing fleet, fill out the important survey by Oct. 14. Those interested in receiving information on starting a departmental bike fleet can fill out the form: http://go.fs.illinois.edu/bikefleet.

    Logan Ebeling . Facilities and Services

  6. New Effort Towards Promoting Departmental Bicycle Fleets

    Associated Project(s): 
    Provide Working Bikes for University Employees
    Departmental Bike Sharing
    Independent Student Projects

    August, 2016, a new initiative towards promoting departments to start their own bicycle fleets began. Lily Wilcock, Active Transportation Coordinator, took on myself (Logan Ebeling), a student intern to help with this project. I am participating in the project as part of ENVS 491, a class required for my Sustainability Minor. 

     

    This project is an evolution from the Departmental Bike Sharing project (see Associated Projects) and is using materials from that project and is drawing off its success. 

     

    We met August 24th at the Campus Bike Center to discuss goals for this semester. We settled on two broad goals: First, assessing the health, challenges, and success of already existing departmental bicycle fleets and second, promoting the formation of new bicycle fleets on campus.  

  7. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center
    Departmental Bike Sharing

    Hello all, This past week was good.  We saw better weather and as a result a huge bump in attendance.  The newly reorganized space has gotten lots of compliments.  We'll see if it works in the long run.  We sold 6 bikes for $740, 1 build-a-bike for $30, 5 memberships for $140, and grossed $1490.80.  Lots of cool things going on.  I took a bunch more bikes out of the warehouse, and am building them to sell/make space.  I setup the wheel building class for May.  Lily and I presented the cargo bike to FAA, and agreed to work on sustainable transportation solutions with them.  I got a lot of work done on the annual reports in anticipation of the end of the fiscal year.

    This week I will be making a short report of sustainable transportation options for FAA, cleaning up the shop, helping with the Bike Census, participating in Ride with the Chancellor, and continuing to work on the annual reports.

    From the Campus Outpost,
    James Roedl

  8. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center
    Departmental Bike Sharing

    Hello all, This past week was busy.  We lots of folks coming in to fix their bikes, but the weather made it weird some days we were empty others we had a 15 minute wait for repair stands.  We saw a lot of new faces, and made some new friends.  The shop sold 4 bikes for $630, 1 build-a-bike for $35, 5 student memberships for $125, 1 community membership for $40, and grossed $1517.  I talked to some of the people involved in the cargo bike loans, but was unable to get any progress yet.  I was unable to build a new desk welcome area, but did acquire a commercial hook wall for free!

    This week I will be working on meeting with people for the cargo bike program, and getting things ready for the residents hall donation program.  I will also build more bikes to sell.

    From the Campus Bike Center,
    James Roedl

  9. Campus Cargo Bicycle Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Departmental Bike Sharing

    Campus Bicycle Center now has had a cargo bicycle for several months and the bicycle has completed its residency at the Main Library.

    Upon return from the Library, the Cargo Bicycle received very positive feedback and the Campus Bicycle Center and Transportation Demand Management is now working with the Main Library contact, Eric Mosher, to purchase their very own cargo bicycle.

    This bicycle willreplace a truck or van delivery of transferred books between libraries on campus.

  10. weekly update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center
    Departmental Bike Sharing
    Bicycle Registration

    Hello all, This past week was great.  We weren't too busy, and we got some cool stuff done.  We sold 5 bikes for $640, 1 build-a-bike for $60, 4 memberships for $100, and grossed $1161.10.  We had a lot of volunteers come in and we were able to clean up the shop.  It looks great and is more functional.  I was also able to sort and organize a lot of the parts and we are much better for it.  We scrapped a lot of damaged frames, and low quality parts.  I added a couple of new tools to make things go faster and easier.  I worked on the cargo bike demo program, and am lining up a new department to lend the bike to.  We built several bikes and have about 40 for sale.  I was able to start ordering from the new supplier accounts I setup it was cool and we got some deals on parts.  We scrapped a lot of damaged frames, and low quality parts making some space.  We started using the new registration database.  The database is fully functional and awesome.  I meet with Stacey and Lily we did some pre Bike To Work Day planning.  I had a volunteer get all the advocacy materials organized and setup to be handed over to Lily. 

    This coming week I plan on getting more bikes from the parking warehouse, building more bikes for the spring rush, and continuing to clean and organize.  I'm going to work on setting up more classes for the spring.

    From the Campus Outpost,
    James Roedl

  11. weekly update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center
    Bicycle Education
    Departmental Bike Sharing

    Hello all,  This past week was good.  We got a lot done and helped a lot of folks.  The Center sold 3 bikes for $400, and grossed $908.50.  I agreed to provide materials and do some education at a international student bike safety event in February.  I was able to clean the shop up a considerable amount. I built a few bikes and we now have 32 bikes that are for sale or need to be logged and priced.  Rick got his bike share up and running and I was very appreciative for the help.

    This coming week I plan on building bikes and cleaning out the back of the shop.

    From the Campus Outpost,
    James Roedl
     

  12. weekly update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center
    Bike Sharing
    Departmental Bike Sharing

    Hello all, This past week was very busy.  We had a lot of people come in and either volunteer to fix their bikes.  The shop grossed $70.  I got a lot done with cleaning the space out.  We had far too many bikes donated that were directed to this shop.  I am not going to be able to accept any more bikes for a while.  I scrapped upwards of 30 bikes sawing them into pieces and putting them in boxes.  It was so bad the boxes themselves made the whole back of the shop inaccessible.  They got removed Friday by Todd so we wont have to deal with that issue any more.  The shop is very well stocked with used parts right now.  I went over to the warehouse and pulled some bikes and cleaned up a bit.  There is more work to be done and 30 or so bikes to dispose of.  I got an account setup with shimano so we can order shifters and bbs.  I helped Rick Langlois haul, build, and accessorize the bike share bikes for his department.  He was very happy, and now we have a 6 bike bike share on campus.  Silver BFU status here we come.  I worked on reinstating Shiqi.  She is returning for spring semester which will help me a lot.  I will have a labor shortage when it gets a little warmer.

    This coming week I plan on getting the shop back into shape after spending the last two weeks not being able to access half of it.  I will also try to get more work done at the warehouse. 

    From the Campus Outpost,
    James Roedl

  13. Award Letter - Demo Cargo Bike

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center
    Student Sustainability Committee (SSC)
    Departmental Bike Sharing

    The idea for the project came after noticing most trucks on campus are only hauling small loads compared to the capacity they were made for. We believe we could switch many transportation tasks over to human powered vehicles. We are hoping we can use a demonstration cargo bike to show different departments how they can use sustainable transportation rather than large fossil fuel powered trucks. We want the departments to see how useful cargo bikes can be and then buy their own. This would not only save money, reduce pollution and congestion, but open up opportunities for student workers who do not have driver’s licenses to do these tasks. This would open up more jobs for students on campus as well as let them participate in sustainable transportation which they could then take and implement after they graduate.

    Attached Files: 
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