This past week, Sarthak and I met with the students on the Transportation Team to discuss their various research projects for the rest of this semester and the upcoming semester. We met with Pun Siripun on Nov. 11th, at 12pm; Charles Okoli on Nov. 14th, 12pn; Sebastian Vega on Nov. 15th, at 11am; and Mitchell Bryant on Nov. 15th at 1pm.

The goal is to have each student conduct research on 30 or so universities in regards to various elements of transportation infrastructure, then present a final report on findings and recommendations for Illinois. The hope is that the schools are widespread, spanning from similar Midwest contexts as us to east and west coast.

Pun will be examining EV Charging available at other schools and whether extending that in Urbana Champaign would be economically feasible and environmentally beneficial.

Charles is reviewing Micro mobility. The goal is to promote micro mobility as alternative modes of transit, but to avoid enforcement costs and the safety of all (pedestrians and users). How have other schools done that well?

Sebastian is studying the commuter program at Illinois and how other universities have implemented it successfully. How did they incentivize it? How did they fund it?

Mitchell is researching the storage of micro mobility devices and how they can be expanded on campus. 

Looking forward to hearing about their research and their suggestions for Illinois!

Spent time tracking down a few new sources for kids’ bikes, as this year we aren’t receiving a large number of donations yet. At this point, we're looking at a little more than 20 kids bikes. 

Visitors: 53
Sales: $724.25
Bikes (refurb): 1 for $225
Memberships: 8 for $240
Tires/tubes: 7 for $50

The Energy Team met on Tuesday, Nov. 12th, from 3:30 - 4:30 PM. We provided updates on building energy efficiency efforts, explored occupant engagement strategies, and continued progress on solar rooftop initiatives. A draft recommendation for campus-wide energy upgrades was reviewed, and we discussed the upcoming agrivoltaic solar project. The meeting minutes are attached!

Our next meeting is December 10th, 3:30 - 4:30 PM.

They finalized the date and times for our Kids Bike Giveaway event: 12/14/24 from 2 – 4p at Urbana IMC building, so they submit work orders for signage/posters/social media posts. Thus far, we’ve gotten zero donations of kids’ bikes, but between both shops we have ~15 to start working through. 

They'll also have their first instructional class on how to fix a flat tomorrow.

Visitors: 69

Sales: $1,153.50

Bikes (refurb): 2 for $395

Memberships: 20 for $600

Tires/tubes: 22 for $163

Morgan White and Carl Wegel presented various sustainability campus and project information, along with providing wind and solar farm budgets and information.

All, Manageable levels of busyness last week. I think our visit numbers have declined slightly, which makes sense for the time of year. Highlights of the week: Received a couple worthwhile direct donations. Fixed up a couple kids’ bikes. Had a student staff interview. Got a few B-a-Bs out the door. The law professor who’s into bikes has become a regular Friday volunteer.

The TBP Monthly Member meeting is tonight, which I will attend. This week is also the deadline for abandoned bike retrieval, so I will do a rough inventory of keep/scrap. We also may table at the Green Quad Day, if I have available staff since it overlaps with our open hours. Have a lot of loose wheels that are of questionable quality that we need to deal with, too.

The numbers:

Visitors: 82
Sales: 865.51
Bikes (B-a-B): 3 for $160
Memberships: 8 for $240
Tires/tubes: 11 for $112

Thanks!

Jacob Benjamin
Coordinator -- Campus Bike Center

All, Another busy week with the fun addition of Bike To Work Day and Light The Night. Haven’t seen the numbers yet but both events went well,  I believe. Friday was surprisingly slow here, which was great since I had staff out sick. We had a BTWD participant follow up and volunteer with us on Friday, which was great.

With the previously mentioned events out of the way, it’s on to prep for the abandoned bikes being released to us soon. Space is at a premium, so we’ll have to get creative and/or judicial in the bikes we utilize. Hope to get a few more bikes on the sales floor. We also already have one bike ready to go for our Kids Bike Giveaway.

The numbers:

Visitors: 103
Sales: $1,230
Bikes (B-a-B): 3 for $150
Memberships: 19 for $570
Tires/tubes: 25 for $187

Thanks!

Jacob Benjamin
Coordinator -- Campus Bike Center

The Energy Team had their first meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 10th, from 3:30 - 4:30 PM. We introduced team objectives for the semester, reviewed ongoing rooftop solar feasibility studies, and discussed occupant engagement programs to promote sustainable energy practices. The meeting minutes are attached!