VeoRide July 2019 ridership overview
Please see attached the VeoRide ridership data for July 2019.
Please see attached the VeoRide ridership data for July 2019.
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, City of Champaign, City of Urbana, and MTD agreed to contribute $1,500 each to purchase bicycle lights for Light the Night event.
On July 25, 2019, Morgan White confirmed that Sarthak Prasad will be the primary contact for Light the Night for F&S.
All, Things were slow-to-comfortably-busy last week. A new employee started. On Tuesday I picked up 30+ bikes from JSM. Only about 1/3 of the bikes were of any quality. The rest we have been steadily scrapping. Consequently we’re pretty maxed out on our scrap bins. One of the good bikes was built up in record time on Friday. A Structural Engineering PhD student rolled in around 2:30 – 3 and finished building the bike a little after 5:30. Most of the bike was in good condition. While he worked I spoke with him about getting engineering students into the Bike Center to try some physical, practical applications to their studies. While he couldn’t get students in to CBC himself, it was encouraging that he agreed it would be a good idea.
I spoke with my Parking Dept contact. Abated bikes have been collected. There are significantly fewer collected than in prior years. Whether that is due to VeoRide, education/awareness, or simply a diminished area of collection (due to construction), it’s hard to say. Bottom line is less work for me and my staff!
This week I’ll be taking Friday afternoon off. I’ll be out of the office on Monday and Tuesday of next week as well. Chris will cover hours. Next week’s report, accordingly, will happen on Wednesday.
The numbers:
Visitors: 75
Sales: $1,282.90
Bikes (refurb): 6 for $810
Bikes (B-a-B): 2 for $50
Memberships: 2 for $60
Tires/tubes: 17 for $89
Thanks!
Jacob Benjamin
Manager, Campus Bike Center
All,
This past week was abbreviated due to the sweltering and oppressive heat. We closed Thursday and Friday. The rest of the week wasn’t too busy, either.
I had a training with a new hire, purged some old parts, and worked on shop builds.
This week I’ll pick up “quite a few” bikes from JSM that they have ready for us, keep purging some of the old junk, and safety check the student-built bikes.
The numbers:
Visitors: 42
Sales: $724
Memberships: 2 for $60
Bikes (refurb): 3 for $475
Bikes (B-a-B): 2 for $55
Tires/tubes: 7 for $$43
Thanks!
Jacob Benjamin
Manager, Campus Bike Center
All,
The one day last week that it wasn’t blazing hot was the one day we were really busy. But we’re always at the whim of the weather. Other than the one busy day, it was business as usual.
We got a new giant fan delivered by the maintenance crew which has been a great help. Keeps things manageably cool in here. Don, the guy we did a bike exchange with, brought us a case of bottled water from Meijer, which was also awesome.
The real big news was the bike we were able to return to its rightful owner. A woman donated a bike that she said was abandoned in front of her apartment. With assistance from Durst, we were able to track down the original owner who came and picked it up on Friday. It was a good start to the weekend!
Outside of the regular day-to-day I’ll be training a new hire and looking to rig up some weatherproofing for the garage doors to keep it a little cooler in here as we look towards the super-hot end of the week we’re expecting.
Numbers:
Visitors: 75
Sales: $582.75
Bikes (refurb): 3 for $301
Membership: 3 for $90
Tire/tubes: 11 for $60
Thanks!
Jacob Benjamin
Manager, Campus Bike Center
All,
Last week was truncated a bit by the long holiday weekend. We were only open Mon – Wed.
I trained a new employee last week and had her start. I was also informally notified that two current staffers will most likely step away from working here at CBC in the next few weeks. The timing worked out pretty well with the two new staffers coming on board. That should get me through the remaining summer months.
Two bikes left on the bike rack outside when I got in this morning, so that’s still helping.
This week I’ll be doing more training with the new staffers, schedule and hold a staff meeting for my team, and the regular schedule of organizing, cleaning, and building.
Thanks!
Numbers:
Visitors: 51
Sales: $371
Bike (refurb): 1 for $200
Membership: 3 for $90
Tires/tubes: 6 for $28
Jacob Benjamin
Manager, Campus Bike Center
The new version of LEED (v.4) requires shower facilities for bicyclists as a pre-requisite. The LEED point is described online at https://www.usgbc.org/credits/neighborhood-development-plan-neighborhood-development/v4-draft/sllc4.
Please see attached the VeoRide ridership data for June 2019.
These are the meeting minutes of the July 2, 2019 Illinois Climate Action Plan Working Group. Several SWATeam recommendations were assessed in this meeting.
All, Last week was comfortably busy. We had all-stands-full for a few days but no waiting patrons. A few build-a-bikes have been started, which is welcome. Shop builds are humming along, more or less. A new sign-in computer should be arriving this week. Donations are still coming in fairly regularly. We’ve got a stockpile of 10 or so kids bikes that I’ll aim to take to Salt & Light this week.
We built up and donated a bike to Campus Recreation Intramurals last week.
The students covered for me during my staff retreat on Friday. There was only one or two minor hiccups and they were my fault.
This week I’ll game plan for more volunteer tasks, do some long-overdue sorting, organizing, and purging in the new-stock area, safety check shop builds, and set up a July staff meeting for my team.
Numbers:
Visitors: 78
Sales: $683.50
Bike (refurb): 2 for $290
Build-a-Bike: 1 for $30
Memberships: 5 for $150
Tire/tube: 6 for $34
Thanks!
- Jake
All, Not a lot to report from last week. I interviewed another potential student employee. Had some iPad troubles but Omid was here and able to help. Thanks, Omid! There was a bike waiting for me on the outside rack when I pulled up this morning, so that’s continuing to be of service to us. Over the weekend, Todd grabbed the extremely large pile of scrap we had accumulated. Thanks, Todd!
My staff and I also had an impromptu staff meeting on Friday which we’ll look to continue on a monthly basis from here on out.
This week I have a Staff Retreat on Friday so I’ll be out of the shop until 4:30 or so and the students will cover for me.
Numbers:
Visitors: 74
Sales: $1,027
Bikes (refurb): 4 for $560
Membership: 5 for $150
Tire/tubes: 21 for $152
Thanks!
- jake
Please see attached the VeoRide ridership data for May 2019.
All, Definitely getting busier! Got a sale in just as we were closing up on Friday. Two more bikes were waiting on the outside rack when I got in this morning. I passed the manager of Champaign Cycle on my ride in and he said they’ve got a couple bikes for us as well. We’re pretty close to capacity on bikes here at the shop. But I guess it’s a good problem to have considering the business model.
Last week we stripped 30 wheels out of the back of the shop. Still too crowded for my liking but definitely more manageable. We have about a dozen stripped frames ready for the scrapper as well, with another five or to be stripped this week. The front “sales floor” is opening up nicely, though, thanks to the sales we’ve made thus far.
I also interviewed a potential new hire last week.
Anecdote: Over the weekend I saw a woman riding her bike almost get hit twice in one intersection. She was crossing Lincoln and just inched her way through the intersection and both lanes of traffic had to stop short for her. It was a scary and clear reminder that we still have a ways to go on infrastructure and education on campus.
Numbers:
Visitors: 70
Sales: $1,157.10
Memberships: 4 for $120
Bike (refurb): 5 for $830
Tire/tubes: 6 for $26
Thanks!
- jake
The Campus Bike Center held Fix-a-flat classes every week on Fridays from March 29, 2019 (from 11 am - 12 pm) till the end of semester (May 3, 2019).
Description for the Fix-a-Flat class:
“Tired of getting flat tires on your bike? Come to this 1 hour informational hands-on class to learn how to solve one of the most common bicycle repair problems! We’ll cover the basics of removing a wheel and tire, replacing the tube, and reinstalling the wheel on the bicycle. All tools and parts will be provided.”
All, Last week was slow. Still in a lull before Summer II begins. We got three donations over the weekend here. Mostly junk but better than being abandoned somewhere. On Thursday I collected 5 bikes from the Parking warehouse.
Last week Theo collected about 20 wheels out of the back of the shop that aren’t worth keeping. We’ll scrap those this week. I got in touch with FAA (Fine & Applied Arts) to see if they’ve got any interest in some of our throwaway junk for art/sculpture projects and that sort of thing. They said they’d pass the info along.
Jeff, from CCB, stopped by and will likely be taking the kids bikes off our hands that we’ve accumulated. That’ll clear up some space. We lent out the big trailer for the University Y to use at Dump & Run next door at the Stock Pavilion to great success and will probably do it again this week. It was nice to see someone else use it!
This week I’ve got an interview with a student worker today. Other than that, business as usual.
Numbers:
Visitors: 51
Sales: $236.60
Memberships: 3 for $90
Tire/tube: 15 for $101
Jake Benjamin
All, Last week was on the slow side. We got busy in fits and starts. This week will likely be the same. I was out of the shop for most of Tuesday afternoon, so the students covered for me. No troubles there.
We concluded our Bike Abandonment Program last week, as well. We collected 15 bikes total that were either donated at the Bike Rodeo, during open hours, or left after hours on the rack outside. Having the rack outside was super helpful, not only to collect bikes during off hours, but as additional storage during open shop time. Long term, having a donation drop off system in place for after-hours would be beneficial.
This week I’ll dig into the pile of student-checked bike builds. I’ve got space for about 5 more bikes and then I’ll have to look at rearranging again. We can technically cram more bikes in the spaces we’ve got allotted for Sale Bikes but I’ve noticed it makes it a lot more difficult for people to try them out and thus, they don’t get sold. Limits of the space, I suppose. Of course, all the bikes will probably sell in the end.
I’ll also coordinate with Parking about picking up some bikes they’ve got for us.
Numbers:
Visitors: 73
Sales: $509.43
Memberships: 10 for $300
Bikes (refurb) 3 for $410
Tire/tube: 18 for $117
Jacob Benjamin
Manager, Campus Bike Center
All, Shortened week for myself as I was out of town Thursday and Friday. The student staff operated hours in my absence. No incidents or troubles. Their chief issues were related to the Shop Builds, so that’s a win-win.
This week I have the Student Employment Symposium on Tuesday that conflicts with hours so I will again have students cover. I’ll be back in time to close up shop. I also have a potential new hire coming in to volunteer this week and sort of try the job out for a bit.
Thanks to Todd for grabbing scrap and whoever delivered new spoke wrenches, as they were sorely needed.
Numbers:
Visitors: 97
Sales: $751.30
Bike (refurb): 1 for $150
Bike (B-a-B): 1 for $125
Memberships: 6 for $180
Tire/tubes: 17 for $152
Thanks!
Jake Benjamin
Campus Bike Center Manager
All, What a week! Last week (and weekend) was a TBP meeting, Bike To Work Day, the Bike Rodeo, and picking up donations from the Community Bike Sale. Lots of extracurricular activity! All of the events went well but not amazingly well. Attendance was on the low side for BTWD and BR but the weather is a major culprit there.
Since 2pm on Friday we’ve gotten (rough count) 20 bike donations, so we’re pretty inundated right now. With bad weather in the forecast and the busyness of finals for most students, we’ll be able to process the donations this week—hopefully.
Last Friday was the last Fix-a-Flat class and we had our first attendee! Maria and Jacob taught the course well and the gentleman seemed happy to have come. Also on Friday the student staff hosted an impromptu Friday ride of sorts for one of our graduating staffers. This upcoming Friday will be the last official one for the season.
I’ll be out of town Thursday and Friday so Chris will open and run the shop in my absence.
The numbers:
Visitors: 73
Sales: $750.20
Bikes (refurb): 2 for $295
Memberships: 7 for $210
Tire/tubes: 9 for $64
Thanks!
Please see attached the VeoRide ridership data for April 2019.
The first ever Lock Your Bike Right event was held during the month of April 2019, where we asked students to send images/videos of themselves locking their bicycles properly to a bike rack.
We could not promote the event properly, and therefore, did not have many entrants. However, we selected 5 winners, and asked them to collect their awards from our table inside the Illini Union's Courtyard Cafe on May 1, 2019.