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  1. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, last week was fairly busy. Not swamped but steady. Felt like business was picking up and the numbers bear that out. Last week Joel and Alana dropped off a new mat and new cleaning supplies. (Thanks, guys!)

    This week, I’ve got two interviews for new student worker help. I may end up closing shop for a couple days this week as the temps creep above 90° and become dangerously hot. Last week people were complaining about the heat and it was only in the mid-80s in here. I’ll fill up the water jug with ice water and have cups on hand.

     

    The numbers:

    Visitors: 69

    Sales: $1,840.75

    Bikes (refurb): 5 for $865
    Bikes (B-a-B): 2 for $242
    Memberships: 8 for $240

    Tire/tubes: 9 for $49

     

    • Jake Benjamin
      Campus Bike Center Manager

  2. Plans underway for September 2018 event

    Associated Project(s): 
    Light the Night

    We have decided on the original two locations:

    • Illinois and Lincoln
    • Alma Mater

    Date agreed upon was Thursday, September 20, 2018. 4:30 – 7:00 PM.

     

    Light selection is half Planet Bike Blinky sets and half silicone–wrap sets. MTD will be ordering $3,000 of the silicone lights and TBP will, with their approval, order $3000 of PB Blinky sets.

     

    With the speed of distribution last year the stations ran out of lights before the end of the event. This year we will not need the reflector station.

     

    F&S would like to see if we can set-up the event to spend some time talking to the recipient of lights about bike safety and/or do an ABC Quick Check before we install the lights.

  3. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, last week picked up a little. We had a couple days there of pretty steady busyness. Summer weather’ll do that!

    I’ve hired two new student workers for the summer, which is a start, but will need to hire a few more in time for the Fall semester once Evan, Dennis, and Lucas move on.

     

    I dropped off a stack of quarter sheet flyers at Champaign Cycle over the weekend, much to their delight, so we’ll have a little more exposure in the wider off-campus community.

     

    This week I’ll continue processing the bikes donated from Champaign Cycle’s Community Bike Sale. I’ll do final safety inspections on the half dozen or so bikes that are almost ready for sale. Additionally, I’ll begin training the new student staffers.

    Numbers:

    Visitors: 87
    Sales: $598.20
    Bike (refurb): 1 for $110
    Memberships: 3 for $90
    Tires/tubes: 9 for $49

     

    • Jake Benjamin
      Campus Bike Center Manager

  4. Trans008 Mode Share Survey recommendation - Assessment started

    Associated Project(s): 
    Multi-Modal Transportation Study
    Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE)
    Transportation iCAP Team Recommendations Summary
    iCAP Working Group (iWG)

    The iCAP Working Group (iWG) met on May 10, 2018, to discuss and start the assessment of the SWATeam recommendation, Trans008 Mode Share Survery. The iWG's draft comment on the recommendation was:

    "iSEE should create and administer a mode-share survey, with recurring on a regular basis. For example, every other year or as often as the Big 10 averages."

    See SWATeam recommendation Trans008 Mode Share Survey here.

  5. dockless bike sharing article

    Associated Project(s): 
    Bike Sharing
    Bike Share with Veo

    http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2018-05-07/ui-officials-working-incentives-keep-shared-bikes-populated-areas.html

    UI officials working on incentives to keep shared bikes in populated areas

     

    Mon, 05/07/2018 - 5:37pm | Tim Ditman  

    CHAMPAIGN — As a dockless-bike-sharing program inches closer to reality in Champaign-Urbana, University of Illinois officials are working on an incentive program to ensure more bikes rented on campus stay in populated areas.

    The concept, in general, allows people to rent bikes anywhere in town rather than at a fixed location. The two cities and the UI are working on an intergovernmental agreement to have mostly the same rules.

    Lily Wilcock, active transportation coordinator for the UI, said the campus's rules will require the bikes to be returned to a rack so as not to block sidewalks or entrances to buildings, and the UI is working with bike-share companies to make that easier.

    "One of the concerns we had as the University of Illinois was, what do you do if someone just rides it to their house and then they leave it there?" Wilcock said. "Some of the companies have responded to that, in that they've been using in other cities an incentive program. They've been allowing someone to ride the bus out to an area to get the bicycle, and then they get a free ride back to leave it in a more populated area. ... And then they get incentives like a certain amount of ride credit."

    Wilcock said a dockless-bike-sharing system could launch on campus in the fall.

  6. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center
    C-U Bike to Work Day
    Encourage Active Transportation

    All, last Tuesday was BIKE TO WORK DAY! It was great! Great weather, great turnout, great conversation, great blindingly bright Vision Zero t shirts. I even sold some tubes and lights here at the Bike Center during the event and helped with some minor tune-ups. Peak times—no surprise—was 8:30 – 9am. After that a few stragglers hung around until  l0.

     

    On Saturday we had the Bike Rodeo at the ARC parking lot. While we didn’t have the huge turnout we were hoping for, the event ran really smoothly and we were able to educate and teach a lot about bike safety and bike-handling skills. Nothing beats showing a kid who’s barely taller than a bike pump how to air up their tires. Needless to say, that was a team effort.


    This week will be a major shop clean and purge as we’ve received another 8 or so bikes from Champaign Cycle that are on-the-whole quality bikes that need somewhere to be stored. And last week with the doors open a lot of leaves and debris got blown into the shop, so that’ll all need cleaning up as well.

     

    Numbers:

    Visitors: 70
    Sales: $828.60
    Bikes (refurb): 1 for $160
    Memberships: 5 for $150
    Tire/tube: 16 for $89

     

    Thanks!

    • Jake Benjamin
      Campus Bike Center Manager

  7. Trans008 Mode Share Survey recommendation - Submittal

    Associated Project(s): 
    Multi-Modal Transportation Study
    Transportation iCAP Team
    Transportation iCAP Team Recommendations Summary
    Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE)

    The Transportation SWATeam submitted a recommendation, to the iWG, stating, "iSEE should facilitate and fund, if any funds required, an updated University District transportation mode-share study. The previous circulation study was conducted by the transportation group in the Regional Planning Commission (RPC), CUUATS. This was conducted in 2011. This recommendation is for the Transportation SWATeam to create survey questions and, with the help of iSEE, distribute the survey across campus."

    See attached the SWATeam recommendation, Trans008 Mode Share Survey, complete with comments from all the Transportation SWATeam members.

    Attached Files: 

  8. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, it’s almost BIKE MONTH! Tomorrow is BTWD! Student staff and I will be running the event, which promises—at this point—to be fantastic weath er.

     

    Last week was slightly abridged since I took Monday off. Hours ran smoothly without me. The remaining days were a healthy amount of busy but skewed towards slow overall. This week looks to be warmer.

    I taught a class at ARC on Tuesday night. 10 people showed up, one of whom came to the Bike Center the next day and declared, “Your class inspired me to try to repair my own bike”. Couldn’t have hoped for a better result!

     

    On Friday I interviewed two new student workers that I will be hiring. They’re both freshman, which provides me with ample time to mold them into expert bicycle helpers--and they were willing to stick it out through some tough, frustrating hub repairs I had them do. Elsewhere on the staffing front, Leah will be leaving us for the greener pastures of Cunningham Children’s Home in the next week or two. Shean will follow sometime after graduation, I believe. They’ve both been great employees; they’ll be missed around here.

     

    Numbers:

    Sales: $296.50
    Memberships: 4 for $120
    Tire/tube: 6 for $50

    No B-a-B or refurbished sales

     

    Thanks!

    • Jake Benjamin
      Campus Bike Center Manager

  10. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, last week was oddly, strangely, very slow and quiet here despite the wonderful weather for most of the week. I was amped up for the deluge of people but it is snowing right now, so I can’t blame ‘em. On Friday we had a moderately well-attended Friday Ride semi-hosted by SECS. It was more of a trial run for next Friday’s Earth Week ride. The route, as planned, is deeply off-campus, which I always like.

    As for this week: Tonight I am teaching a class at the ARC on basic maintenance (ABC Quick Checks, bike vocabulary, etc). I will be taking Friday and next Monday (23rd) off and letting student workers run open hours. I’ll bring them in for a brief manager training this week but they already know everything except a few minor details. Otherwise, per usual, I’ll build bikes and organize.

    Numbers:
    Visitors: 52
    Sales: $742.50

    Bikes (refurb): 2 for $370
    Bikes (B-a-B): 1 for $101
    Memberships: 3 for $125 (2 reg; 1 family)

    Thanks!

    - Jake Benjamin
      Campus Bike Center Manager

  11. iWG meeting minutes April 9th, 2018

    Associated Project(s): 
    iCAP Working Group (iWG)
    Student Sustainability Committee (SSC)
    Solar Farm 2.0
    Student Sustainability Leadership Council (SSLC)
    Sustainability Council
    ECBS Recommendations Summary
    Green Lab Program
    Bike Sharing
    iSEE Campus as a Living Lab (CALL) Projects
    EPA SmartWay Affiliate
    Geothermal on Campus
    Energy Generation, Purchasing, & Distribution (eGen) SWATeam
    Topical iCAP Teams

    Attached are the meeting minutes from the iWG meeting that was held on April 9th, 2018.

    Attached Files: 

  12. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All! Happy snow in April! (Not.)

    This past week Working Bikes came down and we cleared out the last of the warehouse as well as donated 28 3-speed bikes to the Urbana shop. Thanks to student staffers Evan, Dennis, Leah, and all-around very awesome ATC Lily for helping load the bikes! It went so much faster thanks to them.

    The shop was slow most of the time and moderately busy some of the time this week.  We’ve got some really nice fliers in the works for the Maintenance Class at the ARC (4/16 and 4/24 in room MP6 @ 7-8pm!). Those should go up/be distributed soon. Student staffer Dennis has expressed some interest in helping out with one of the classes, which would be cool.

    This week I will meet with Neutral Cycle about their involvement with the Bike Rodeo, build bikes,  organize/clean, and recruit/advertise for student-staff help for the summer months.

    Numbers:

    Visitors: 43
    Sales: $668.35
    Bikes (refurb): 2 for $310
    Bikes (B-a-B): 1 for $135
    Memberships: 2 for $60

    Thanks!

    • Jake Benjamin
      Campus Bike Center Manager

  13. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, Spring Break was slow—as expected. Not many visitors. Made some good progress on builds, but also sold a bike, as well. I cleaned up the back end of the shop and am still working through a surplus of junk parts. The shelves are working well to keep the floor clean of debris and tripping hazards. By last count we have 42 bikes that are For Sale/ B-a-Bs and 36 as unclaimed stock.

    This week I will be prepping at the warehouse for the last of the bikes to be moved out of there. Working Bikes is coming on Friday. They are bringing 25 3-speeds for us, as well, which I will campaign to be dropped off at the Urbana shop before they head to the warehouse. Consequently, I may have reduced hours on Friday. I’ll know more after I make a final tally of the bikes at the warehouse.

    The numbers:

    Visitors: 39
    Sales: $389.80
    Bike (refurb): 1 for $190
    Memberships: 3 for $90
    Tire/tube: 7 for $31

    Thanks!

    • Jake Benjamin
      Campus Bike Center Manager

  14. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, spring is coming! We’ll be open during Spring Break, I’m sure we’ll get lots of inquiries to that effect. We were busy on Friday and the visitor numbers are creeping up each week, with last week’s total sitting at 59—almost to 60!

    This week projects to be a little warmer but it is Spring Break, too so hopefully if there’s a lull we can push out some more refurbished bikes for when everyone gets back.

    As of writing I just got off the phone with a representative from Working Bikes who has confirmed a date of 3/30/18 at approximately 11am for picking up the remainder of the warehouse bikes. I’ll coordinate with Parking to get the doors opened and then it’ll be cleaned out. Hopefully  it shouldn’t hamper open hours but we’ll see. In the coming two weeks I’ll double check the number of bikes over there and add or subtract as I see fit. I quoted WB around 60 bikes in the warehouse but they were fine with us knocking that number up or down a little.

    This week I will build bikes and cull bikes from this shop for the warehouse as well as recruit for the open student worker positions that start this summer.

    Numbers:

    Sales: $331
    Bike (refurb): 1 for $140

    Tire/tube: 3 for $20

    Thanks!

    • Jake Benjamin
      Campus Bike Center Manager

  15. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, last week was ever-so-slightly on the busy side of things. Friday in particular. Alana dropped off shirts (thanks!) so all CBC staff will now have nice new Campus Rec t-shirts. I finished constructing the shelving behind the tool wall so now I need to buy some paint for them. The majority vote on colors is: Pink and yellow. Neither color muted, either. Loud ones.

    Last week I emailed all of the owners of expired build-a-bike tags here at CBC to alert them to their expiration. Two or three have come to update their tags in the last week. This week I’ll cull the remaining abandoned ones and either finish them as Shop Builds or return them to the available stock.

    This week is the Bike Project Members’ Meeting (tonight). The weather is looking to be warmer all week, so I’ll staff accordingly. Hopefully warm weather means selling some bikes. I’ll build bikes, too.

    The numbers:
    Sales: $186
    Memberships: 4 for $120
    Visitors: 32

    Sincerely,

    • Jake Benjamin
      Campus Bike Center Manager

  16. SSC and F&S to host Free to Ride film screening

    Associated Project(s): 
    Student Sustainability Committee (SSC)
    Reduce Driving on Campus

    Free To Ride, a documentary produced by The Ohio State University's Kirwan Institute, highlights the relentless spirit of community leaders from across Dayton, Ohio who overcame a suburban contingent fearfully opposed to the expansion of public transit along a commercial corridor, and the system of checks and balances that allowed justice and reason to prevail.

    Trailer: https://vimeo.com/95444875

    This event is free and open to the public. Join us on March 7th at 4pm in room 112 at the Transportation Building.

    Event Details: https://www.facebook.com/events/1554444197965701/

    Attached Files: 

  17. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, last week was pretty quiet. Made some progress on a construction project: A member came in on Thursday and we affixed the tool pegboard to a more secure structure than just having it hang on the sewage pipes as it was before. Now it’s screwed into some 2x4s that are hung from the ceiling. This in turn actually bumped it back a few inches, providing a smidge more room, something that is always welcome.

    This week that same volunteer will come in on Tuesday morning and we’ll begin construction on some more shelving directly behind the tool wall to facilitate better storage options for new and used parts. I will then paint the new shelves to make them easier to ID and distinguish. Informal poll of staff thus far: 2 votes for pink.

    CBC will be closed tomorrow (Tuesday) for a staff meeting. I’ll put that on the website and Facebook.

    Numbers:

    Visitors: 37
    Sales: $182.68
    Memberships: 1 for $30
    (No bike sales)

    Sincerely,

    • Jake Benjamin
      Campus Bike Center Manager

  18. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, still slow here. One of the student staff finished the three-wheeled bike and rode it home. That was easily the highlight of the week. Sale bikes are creeping upward but I’ve been selling a few here and there as well. Hovering around 20 total. I had Evan, a student worker, come in last week and help with shop builds.

    This week I will send out email alerts/reminders to all the current build-a-bikers that their tags are out-of-date. No one has been in to work on their bike since before Winter Break. One or two have come to update their tags but that’s been it. I’ll give them a week to reply and then transition those bikes to shop builds, which should help our stock of for-sale bikes.

    Sales: $455
    Bikes (refurb): 2 for $270
    Bikes (b-a-b): 1 for $68
    Visitors for the week: 26

    Sincerely,

    • Jake Benjamin
      Campus Bike Center Manager

  19. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, last week was uneventful. Monday was the Bike Project Members’ Meeting which went well. The shop is still predictably slow. I’ve had good, consistent volunteer help this week. Cleaning and organizing is going very well because of them. Tubes are almost completely organized and sized, storage for new parts is coming along as well. Currently for sale are 19 bikes and should be 21 by the end of today.

    Business as usual this week as far as building bikes and organizing.

    Visitors: 30
    Sales: $155
    Memberships: 1 for $30

    Sincerely,

    • Jake Benjamin
      Campus Bike Center Manager

  20. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, last week was pleasantly busy. Visitor numbers were at 55 for the week. A few warm days in there certainly helped.

    This past week I went to the warehouse and picked up bikes and in preparation for that consolidated the bikes we have at Campus. I picked up about 10 from the warehouse. Almost all are really durable, dependable 90s mountain bikes that make really great commuters. A few of them even already had fenders installed.

    The organization and shelving situation is coming along. I hope to have that completed this week. I had volunteers sort and dissemble bad wheels, which should help free up some space so random wheels aren’t floating around as much here.

    We currently have 19 bikes for sale, if anyone asks. But we did sell one last week (yay!).

    Numbers:

    Sales: $734.90
    Memberships: 4 for $155 (3 reg; 1 family)
    Bikes (refurb): 1 for $155
    Bikes (B-a-B): 1 for $138

    Sincerely,

    • Jake Benjamin
      Campus Bike Center Manager

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