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Projects Updates for theme: Transportation

  1. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All ,This past week was a very slow one. Averaged only a visitor or two per day. New hires Kelly and Jacob started and I spent the majority of the week training them. They both show good promise in their ability to understand and apply the techniques and principles of bicycle repair.

    We received a new coat rack/storage shelf for people to hang their coats and drop their backpacks. Also received a snow shovel and salt to clear out in front of the door. Not having to bug the shop next door to borrow their shovel will be a welcomed change.  

    This week I have two interviews for a couple more student staffers. While I have roughly the same number of staffers as usual and could get by with that, the students’ availability this semester isn’t cutting it, especially once we get busy in the warm months. I am also trying to plan better for the constant and inevitable staff turnover.

    Regular shop duties abound: builds, safety checks, organizing, inventory.

     

    The numbers:
    Visitors: 41

    Sales: $87
    Memberships: 2 for $60

     

    Thanks!

    Jake Benjamin
    Campus Bike Center Manager

  3. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, Last week was slow but we had a few visitors in each day. Hank and Chris helped out all week, which was good. We got a few more shop builds finished but not safety checked. The total build number is creeping towards 30.

    Having the backside of the shop cleaner has been great this past week. Much easier to maneuver back there.

    This week I’ll be finalizing the student staff schedule and safety checking the aforementioned bikes. Kelly, a new hire, starts work today, so I’ll be training her some more as well.

     

    Numbers:
    Visitors: 31
    Sales: $105.50

    • Jake Benjamin
      Campus Bike Center Manager

  4. email from Champaign County Bikes

    Associated Project(s): 
    Bike Sharing
    Encourage Bicycle Use

    Hi Everyone,

    Ben from VeoRide and I have started a discussion about how we can make sure the VeoRide Bike Share opportunity is known and available to everyone in our Champaign/Urbana community.  We are not alone.  Other communities are exploring this question too. There is even a Better Bike Share Association! 

     

    http://betterbikeshare.org

    https://www.smartcitiesdive.com/news/bike-share-expansion-neighborhood-perception/545012/

    https://ppms.trec.pdx.edu/media/project_files/TREC_BreakingBarriersSummaryReport_emQeiBA.pdf

     

    Are any of you interested in joining this conversation?  Do you know of others who would be interested?  Let me know and I’ll create an email list and keep you in the loop of ideas and meetings.

     

    Note: CU has a dockless bike share system and some of these studies looked at cities like Chicago and their large public docked bike share systems like Divvy.  But I think we can learn a great deal from what these studies and authors have learned about the introduction of bike share to various populations of potential riders.

     

    CHANGING MINORITY & LOW INCOME PERCEPTIONS OF BIKE SHARE 
    -> Smart Cities Dive reports when bike share was not understood or accepted when it expanded to the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood in Brooklyn, NY. A grant from the Better Bike Share Partnership provided resources for a community-led campaign. A historically rooted, minority-led organization lead the charge. Community groups and churches organized group rides, and schools offered bike education classes. Ads were rewritten to reflect the voice and priorities of the neighborhood. Discounted memberships were publicized and bulk memberships were offered to employers to get more people to sign up. From there, more listening sessions in the neighborhood helped Citi Bike explore new dock locations that would better serve the community. Just a year later, Bed-Stuy was an unexpected poster child for Citi Bike. Personal engagement has become a top priority for successful cities trying to expand mobility options. http://bit.ly/2CKogRj

    [See Research section for links to 2 studies of minority and low-income neighborhood bike share perceptions and concerns.]

    MINORITY & LOW INCOME NEIGHBORHOOD PERCEPTIONS OF BIKE SHARE 
    -> Smart Cities Dive reports as bike share expands, neighborhood perception is key. (http://bit.ly/2CKogRj) A recent study published in Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice on bike share systems in Chicago reinforced a persistent problem for new mobility options: Minority and low-income neighborhoods aren't always on board. (Where Does Active Travel Fit within Local Community Narratives of Mobility Space and Place?: http://bit.ly/2Fe1jsg) Researchers used advanced machine learning to analyze focus groups of residents of 2 contrasting neighborhoods. Minority and low-income residents worry bike-sharing presence is yet another sign of a gentrifying neighborhood while more pressing needs, such as safety measures or expanded broadband are not addressed. 

    A study from the Transportation Research and Education Center surveyed residents in Chicago, IL; Philadelphia, PA and Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood in Brooklyn, NY and found people of color, or those with lower incomes, had more concerns about bike sharing than white or high-income people. (Breaking Barriers to Bike Share: Insights on Equity: http://bit.ly/2FfqCdy) Among those concerns were uncertainty about how it worked, and the cost and the fear that bike share would make their neighborhoods too expensive.

    [See The National & International Scene for an initiative that successfully changed a neighborhood vocally against bike share to on that embraces it.]

     

    ___________________

     

     

    CCB has a growing concern about Cycling Equity, and making sure cycling events, education, infrastructure, and opportunity reach to all the neighborhoods and people in the greater Champaign/Urbana area. We will be giving this some thought as be plan for CU Bike Month 2019, and particularly, our Bike to Work Day - given that the data is showing that the majority of the people who bike to work in Champaign/Urbana are not pedaling towards the U of I, where we have traditionally put most of our efforts.

     

    If you are interested in helping us explore something new and additional to our Bike to Work Day, let me know.  

     

    Thanks,

     

    Jeff

     

     

    From a Washington Post article looking a census data:

     

    Of special interest, the demographics also reveal an important underlying dichotomy. The people most likely to bike or walk to work are either the least educated in society or the most educated. Slice the demographics by income, and the less money you have, the more likely you are to take either of these modes of transportation to work. Unless, that is, you're really wealthy. The graph below illustrates that biking and walking decline as income rises, until both start to tick back up again for the two highest income groups:

    walk bike by income

     

    The pattern is even clearer when we look at educational attainment (this is my graph, using the Census data):

     

     

    BeMnlahPfKGxAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC

    Data via Census Bureau

    These two graphs illustrate a transportation paradox: Alternatives to driving in the United States are both a luxury for the well-off and a last resort for the poor.

     

    * These charts taken from here:  https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/05/09/the-demographic-paradox-of-who-bikes-and-walks-to-work/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.c8e6397e5c49

     

    Jeff Yockey

    Board Member

    Champaign County Bikes

    www.champaigncountybikes.org

     

     

     

     

  5. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, Abbreviated work week for me and zero open hours last week. It was a good time to do some deep winter/early spring cleaning. I pulled about half the bikes out of the back of the shop and cleaned up and threw junk away, reorganized and decluttered the 2x4 storage shelves. It’s looking a lot cleaner on the back end of the shop; the front side of the shop will be handled by the student workers this week.

    Todd came and grabbed scrap over the weekend so that definitely helped beautify the shop.

    This week I’ll hopefully be able to round out the student staff schedule and the student staff manual. Builds and safety checks will, of course, continue as well.

    Thanks!

    • Jake Benjamin
      Campus Bike Center Manager

     

  6. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, Welcome back from break! Hope everyone had a good time with friends and family.

    The last week before break was pretty slow, as to be expected. Kevin finally finished his B-a-B, which was great. He was jazzed about it, too.

    The Bike Center doesn’t reopen until next Monday so this week I’ll be doing some deeper cleaning and reorganizing that isn’t feasible when I have to open the doors at 2pm. I’ll also be collating the student staff manual.

     

    The numbers:

    Visitors: 47
    Sales: $171.50
    Memberships: 2 for $60
    Build-a-Bike: 1 for $47

    Thanks!

     

    Jake Benjamin
    Campus Bike Center Manager

  7. Weekly update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, Last week was slow, per usual this time of year. I had a training session for two new staffers. They’ll start in the new year as they have finals this week.

    Bike count is hovering around 15-20 with a few safety checks still in the queue. A couple staffers expressed interest in morning shifts this week so if that happens, hopefully it’ll result in a few more builds being ready before winter break.

    This week I will continue work on the Student Staff Manual and will line up some new volunteer tasks since the regular items are getting ticked off the list.

    The numbers:

    Visitors: 51
    Sales: $117.50
    tire/tubes: 6 for $23


    Thanks!

     

    -        Jake Benjamin
    Campus Bike Center Manager

  8. Weekly update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center
    Bike Share with Veo

    All, Visitor numbers are down, sales are down, builds are ever-creeping up: It must be winter!

    We’re only averaging a few actual work-on-my-bike visitors per day now, and I imagine it’ll get even slower the closer we get to winter break. The student staff has responded positively to the shift in shop build protocol away from piecemeal jobs and towards being wholly responsible for the bike, start to finish. I don’t think it has actually positively affected the quality of their work—yet—but they seemed more engaged and invested in the task at hand. 

    Not sure the numbers on it but I feel like I’ve had a pretty steady flow of volunteers in for either community service or volunteer memberships. Not too many volunteer duds, as most seem pretty jazzed and impressed with the space/DIY idea.

    This week I’ve got a meeting with the GM of VeoRide and separately, a TBP-UIUC meeting, as well as student staff training towards the end of the week.

    The numbers:

    Visitors: 43

    Sales: $144.50

    Memberships: 2 for $60

     

    Thanks!

     

    -        Jake Benjamin
    Campus Bike Center Manager

  9. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center
    Bike Share with Veo

    All, Winter is upon us! Visitor numbers are still relatively high, considering the cold weather, which is a great sign. We have one student in every week who’s still plugging away at his B-a-B. Most others have abandoned them and I have had the staff reclaim them as shop builds.

     

    Last week I finished and delivered the bike that’ll be raffled off at the Staff Appreciation Week. I worked up a checklist for the future days when I’ll need the student staff to run open hours for me. Safety checked a few more bikes and worked on inventory.

     

    This week I’ll need to begin looking at reallocating space for how many shop builds we have. Most of the front area of the shop is all for-sale bikes so now we’ll need to start a row in the back.

     

    I’ll also be getting in touch with VeoRide about a possible partnership for getting more people on bikes.

     

    The numbers:

    Visitors: 58
    Sales: $61
    Memberships:  1 for $30

     

    Thanks!

    • Jake Benjamin
      Campus Bike Center Manager

     

  10. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All,  No big news for the last week. We had Thanksgiving break and were closed all last week. The week prior was pretty slow, too.

     

    Biggest news: Yesterday the shop was staffed by the student workers and they appear to have done a fantastic job. The shop is clean and organized, they tallied and tracked visitors and volunteer time nicely. No trouble. Next up will be training the staff to run hours when I’m not here in the summer when it’s really busy. I don’t have the infrastructure in place to do that yet but we’ll get there.

    This week I’ll be delivering the bike we built for Campus Recreation’s Student Staff Appreciation Week, building shop bikes, and working on documenting skills training and assessment for the student staff so that I’ll be able to better track their progress and abilities to do the job going forward.  

     

    Visitors: 45

    Sales: $101
    Memberships: 2 for $60

    Misc. used parts: 7 for $41

     

    Thanks!

     

    • Jake Benjamin
      Campus Bike Center Manager

  11. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, Slow last week, as to be expected.

    Currently have 8 bikes for sale with a couple more queued up. Should have about 15 ready to go by end of the week.

    Instead of having student workers build bikes piecemeal, this week I’ll try having each staffer be responsible for a bike—basically just a B-a-B but for sale. The hope here is that it will be a more holistic and teachable situation seeing a bike through from start to finish, just as the B-a-B program is. I tried this with one staffer last week and he was noticeably more engaged and hustling by the end, trying to get the bike done. It’ll help that we won’t have to figure out “what’s been done?” when each staffer comes in for their shift, too.

     

    This week will be building bikes, organizing, and drafting student staff training guides.

     

    The numbers:

    Visitors: 62
    Sales: $235.50
    Memberships: 5 for $150
    Tire/tubes: 4 for $25

     

    Thanks!

     

    • Jake Benjamin
      Campus Bike Center Manager

     

  13. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center
    Collection and Donation of Abandoned Bicycles

    All, Last week was quite slow, as the sales numbers confirm. It’s been great to be able to keep the student staff on even as we slow down as I can train them better. Running through repairs and assembly of some of the more intricate bicycle componentry is a boon to them and myself—more skilled student workers makes for a better shop experience for all.

     

    Big news of the week: Warehouse is empty of bikes—finally! This morning I’ll head over there to sweep up the last of the debris and straighten up. Working Bikes was thankful for the donations and some of the bikes are already in El Salvador and others will make their way to Lesotho, South Africa. A big thanks to Hank, Rick, Rafael, Todd, and APO for their assistance loading bikes.

     

    This week I’ll be moving on hiring 2-3 more student workers, building bikes, ordering, inventory, and shop design/organization.

     

    The numbers:

    Visitors: 62
    Sales: $139.00
    Memberships: 1 for $30

    Tire/tubes: 4 for $15

     

    Thanks!

     

    Jake Benjamin
    Campus Bike Center Manager

  14. Weekly update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center
    Collection and Donation of Abandoned Bicycles

    Last week was really relaxed in the shop. I’ve been able to dedicate some time to training the student staff a little better. Having them strip and build bikes is good repetition and practice for them.

     

    Tuesday was the Bike Shipping Event, which did not go as planned. Working Bikes wasn’t able to get their big container down here so they only took 260 bikes. That was compounded by a poor showing of volunteers to help. Most of the loading was done by two Working Bikes people and myself, which was tiring. By the second half, we had 5 or 6 people to help.

     

    On Friday, Todd and I pulled about 60 bikes out of the warehouse. We should have it all cleared by end-of-week.

    I interviewed two students last week as well. I have another interview tomorrow.

     

    This week is the aforementioned job interview, as well as an iCap interview with someone from Sustainability. Mornings will be loading bikes at the warehouse and most shop hours will be spent teaching the staff more bike skills now that it’s slow.

     

    The numbers:

    Visitors: 73

    Sales: $430.25
    Memberships: 4 for $120
    Bikes (B-a-B): 2 for $40*
    Tires/tubes: 10 for $84

    *B-a-B pricing are now itemized to reflect the cost of new parts so TBP can keep better track of stock and sales of new parts. B-a-Bs aren’t cheaper, they’re just recorded as the base price only.

     

    Thanks!

    • Jake Benjamin
      Campus Bike Center Manager

  16. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center
    Collection and Donation of Abandoned Bicycles

    All, Last week was slow, customer-wise, but busy for planning and prep. I spent most of non-open hours at the warehouse prepping bikes for the shipping event. The date for that was finalized last week as well: It will be on 10/23 starting at 9am when the 53’ trailer is due to arrive. Working Bikes will bring “several people”.

     

    I contacted the APO  service fraternity about helping with the shipping event and they expressed interest—however they cannot guarantee a designated number of volunteers, unfortunately. This week I’ll be putting the word out for volunteers on social media and TBP website.

     

    This week I will also brainstorm ideas to keep the student workers engaged and on task during the slower months as last week has already shown them to lean toward talking without working rather than talking while they work.

     

    The numbers:

    Visitors: 73
    Sales: $825.85
    Memberships: 4 for $155
    Bikes (refurb): 2 for $265
    Tire/tube: 24 for $150

     

    Thanks!

     

    • Jake Benjamin
      Campus Bike Center Manager

  17. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, Last week was slow. For the first hour now we’re usually seeing fewer and fewer people darken the door. It seems that we’re always busier on the tail end of open hours, from 4-6 more than 2-4.

     

    Last week I began  turning pedals at the warehouse in preparation for the big shipment. Todd from the Bike Project came and helped. He also grabbed scrap this weekend. Thanks, Todd!

    This week I’ll be nailing down the date for the bike shipment with Working Bikes and turning pedals. I’ve done 67 so far, only (roughly) 400 more to go! I’ll reach out to the student staff for some help, which would expedite the process.

    The numbers:

    Visitors: 80
    Sales: $746.25
    Memberships: 4 for $120
    Bikes (refurb): 2 for $390
    Bikes (B-a-B): 2 for $80
    Tires/tubes: 9 for $50

    Thanks!

     

    • Jake Benjamin
      Campus Bike Center Manager

  19. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, last week was comfortable—both weather-wise and with how busy the shop was. We saw some Build-a-Bikes walk out the door and of note, specifically, was Rafael’s. He’s from Brazil and speaks almost no English. Communication was limited to hand gestures and demonstrating how a bike part is supposed to move or operate. He finished his build on Friday and was so happy to have it done he wanted a photo with the staff.  Not all learning is language-based!

     

    First Visit Free is on a first-come first-serve basis now as we have slowed down enough to be able to accommodate small repairs some of the time.

     

    I spoke with Working Bikes last week. We have a tentative date of 10/16 set for the big shipment. I spent a good hour and a half at the warehouse organizing bikes on Friday. This week and next I’ll schedule more trips out there with Parking to sufficiently prepare for the event. Over 500 bikes will need their pedals removed and handlebars turned. 200 of those will also need their front wheels removed.

     

    Thanks to Todd for picking up scrap over the weekend.

    This week I’ll build bikes and do more warehouse prep.

     

    The numbers:

    Visitors: 114
    Sales: $553.60

    Memberships: 12 for $360
    Bikes (B-a-B): 2 for $60
    Tires/tubes: 18 for $98

     

    Thanks!

    • Jake Benjamin
      Campus Bike Center Manager

  20. PWR011 SmartWay Union recommendation - Successful

    Associated Project(s): 
    iCAP Working Group (iWG)
    Zero Waste Recommendations Summary
    EPA SmartWay Affiliate

    Executive Director of Facilities & Services, Mohammed Atalla, responded over email to Ximing Cai (iSEE Associate Director for Campus Sustainability) in support of the recommendation:

    "Facilities & Services, in collaboration with Jamie Singson at the Illini Union, will proceed with investigating the recommendation to join the EPA’s SmartWay partnership program.  Morgan will be arranging a webinar/conference call with the representatives from EPA’s SmartWay program and the associated departments on campus per your recommendation.  Then each respective department will determine how to proceed, when the process is clear.  Morgan will provide updates via the iCAP Portal SmartWay project page: https://icap.sustainability.illinois.edu/project/smartway-transport-partnership."

     

    See the iWG Assessment of PWR011 SmartWay Union here.

    See SWATeam recommendation PWR011 SmartWay Union here.

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