You are here

Projects Updates for theme: Transportation

  1. Weekly Update - Fix-a-Flat

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, Slow and steady for the week on the whole. Anecdotally busy again for this time of year. Still gearing up and/or down for moving shop, depending on how you think of it.
    We’ve got our first fix-a-flat class of the semester coming up this Friday from 11am – 12p.  Today’s warm weather projects a busy shop this afternoon but I’ve given up trying to predict how busy it’ll be. I’ll also be hiring two new student staffers this week with a third interview to schedule.
    The numbers:
    Visitors: 61
    Sales: $651
    Bikes (refurb): 3 for $430
    Memberships: 3 for $90
    Tires/tubes: 8 for $31

    Thanks!

    Jacob Benjamin
    Manager, Campus Bike Center

  3. Meeting at NCSA

    Associated Project(s): 
    It's Your MTD Too!

    Sarthak Prasad and Stacey DeLorenzo met with Katie Henning at NCSA to discuss the It's Your MTD Too event. This event would be open to faculty and staff at NCSA and nearby departments/units. Katie was very interested in the event, and asked us for some dates. We decided to host this event from 12:30 to 1:30 pm. Sarthak would finalize a date and time for the event with Evan Alvarez.

  4. Weekly Update - New semester, B-a-B

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, First week of the semester is in the books! We were busy at times, and characteristically slow for the majority of the week. Sold a few bikes.

    This week I’ve got another interview and hopefully it’ll work out so we can get our staff numbers back up. I’ll probably make a run to the warehouse to pick up a few more bikes since we’re out of B-a-B candidates/shop builds and a run to Urbana to drop off excess stock in advance of moving.

    The numbers:

    Visitors: 56

    Sales: $478.50

    Bikes (refurb): 2 for $305

    Memberships: 1 for $30

    Tire/tubes: 3 for $11

     

    Thanks!

    Jacob Benjamin
    Manager, Campus Bike Center

  5. From Plants to Energy - DI article about IBI

    Associated Project(s): 
    Illinois Biodiesel Initiative (IBI)
    Support the Illinois Biodiesel Initiative [ARCHIVED]

    https://dailyillini.com/features/2020/01/21/sustainability-biodiesel-soy...

    "An IBRL truck makes a half-mile drive to Ikenberry to pick up barrels of the leftover cooking oil from Ikenberry. Once at the lab, the team goes through pre-processing, processing and purification of the soon-to- be biodiesel.

    Since last summer, IBI has been in the midst of a major rehaul. The former 50-gallon batch processor is being upgraded to a 500-gallon processor. Over the past two semesters, the team has only picked up twice from Ikenberry strictly for testing purposes on the new processor. The project is expected to be completed this fall.

    One of the unique qualities of the RSO is the diversity of the work. IBI includes a production, soap and quality control team with other executive positions as well."

  7. Weekly Update - Reopened for 2020, shop clean up, Build-a-bike

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, Last week we reopened for 2020! Although, by the count of visitors and sales, you’d hardly know it. The junky weather never helps. This week projects to be a little warmer today and tomorrow, at least. We’ll see what happens next week when school starts back up.
    We currently have 2 – 3 bikes left in the shop that are not either for sale, being built up, earmarked for other projects, or junk not worth keeping.

    This week I’ll be working on scheduling my student staff for open hours shifts as well as our extracurricular events/programs like our fix-a-flat classes, etc. I’ll also be coordinating with Parking to get at least a few potential Build-a-Bikes in here for next week in case anybody wants to give that a whirl. And, of course, throwing old junk out.

    Numbers:
    Visitors: 17
    Sales: $12

    Jacob Benjamin
    Manager, Campus Bike Center

  8. Weekly Update - Winter break, testing Refurbished bikes

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, This report is for the week of December 16 – 20.

    Not much to report as this time of year is always slow. Still had a decent number of visitors. We are not reopening until the 6th, so today and tomorrow I’ll just work solo in the shop. The weather will be nice today so I’ll be able to concentrate on test riding and final tune ups on our collection of refurbed bikes. As it stands, most of our stock of bikes are ready and for sale or in-progress builds.
    The numbers:
    Visitors: 36
    Sales: $324.90
    Bike (B-a-B): 2 for $60
    Tires/tubes: 5 for $33

    Jacob Benjamin
    Manager, Campus Bike Center

  9. Initial contact at NCSA

    Associated Project(s): 
    It's Your MTD Too!

    Reached out to Katie Henning at National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) on December 17, 2019 to host the event at NCSA for faculty and staff. NCSA has a "Green Team", and Katie said that this event fits the agenda for this initiative at NCSA. Katie connected me with the Associate Director of Facilities at NCSA, Tedra Tuttle. Sarthak Prasad would set up a meeting with Katie, Tedra, and Stacey to discuss the event in more detail.

  10. Weekly Update - Winter break, Sales

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, It felt surprisingly busy in the shop at times last week. Our staff is dwindling with the end of the semester. We’ve reached the time of year where people bring their bikes in to the shop simply to thaw out. This week will be worse yet with the snow today.

    This week’ll be more of the regular: building bikes, piling stuff up to throw away or donate to the Urbana shop. We’re closing this Friday, the 20th and will reopen on the 6th of January.
    Thanks to Todd for picking up scrap over the weekend.

    Numbers:
    Visitors: 49
    Sales: $231.50
    Memberships: 2 for $60

    Tires/tubes: 9 for $63

    Thanks!

    Jacob Benjamin
    Manager, Campus Bike Center

  11. Weekly Update - BFU celebration meeting, CBC visitis

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, Pretty slow over here as per usual for this time of year. On Thursday and Friday of last week we had a few CBC alums stop in so that was a welcomed surprise. Always nice to see former student staff.

    We’re on the radar and a regular contact for the UI claims office when they’ve got damaged bicycles. Diversifying our donation stream is always welcome—especially when it’s in-house here with the University.
    This week we’ve got a BFU celebration at 2p on Wednesday at F&S. I’ll notify staff to cover open hours while I attend that. I like our BFU silver status and cupcakes, too. Win-win! We’ll continue building bikes and culling parts this week. I’ll be getting the final count on staff availability for next week as it’s nearing finals. Our team will be leaner and meaner, as the expression goes, as we approach the holiday break.
    The numbers:

    Visitors: 57
    Sales: $231.50
    Memberships: 2 for $60
    Tires/tubes: 9 for $63

    Thanks!

    Jacob Benjamin
    Manager, Campus Bike Center

  12. Weekly Update - Thanksgiving break, Fix-a-flat

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, Looking back to the week before Thanksgiving break, it was about average for this time of year. Not a whole lot to report. Still throwing stuff away as we see fit. Bikes are getting built. One of the student staff put in her resignation as she’s received an internship with iSEE. Always nice to see success for the students here!

    This week we’ll host our Fix-a-Flat class on Friday, Dec 6th at 11am here at the Bike Center. Likely to be poorly attended since it’s December. Otherwise, it’s more of the same: building bikes, cleaning shop, throwing stuff away.
    The numbers:


    Visitors: 66

    Sales: $231.50
    Memberships: 2 for $60
    Tires/tubes: 9 for $75

    Thanks!

    Jacob Benjamin
    Manager, Campus Bike Center

  13. VeoRide November 2019 ridership overview

    Associated Project(s): 
    Bike Share with Veo

    Please see the data overview for the month of November. ~400 e-bikes and ~80 pedal bikes.

    November:

    Total Rides – 14,588

    • Peddle Bike – 1,906
    • E-bike – 12,676

    Total Users gained – 1,281

    Overall:

    Total Rides: 389,735

    Total Users:20,025

    Reporting:

    • We received 6 reports to remove bikes from private property
    • We received 9 calls about bikes parked inappropriately
    Attached Files: 

  14. Meeting with Lisa Lillig at KCPA

    Associated Project(s): 
    It's Your MTD Too!

    Sarthak Prasad met with Lisa Lillig at KCPA on November 21, 2019. Following are the meeting notes.

    ------

    I met with Lisa yesterday (November 21, 2019) at the KCPA lobby to discuss holding this event at KCPA. I was under the impression that it would be just for KCPA employees, and not that we will hold this event at KCPA for anybody who was interested.

    Lisa said that she had spoken to the management at KCPA, and they do not think that their employees would be interested in this program. She said that there are 85 employees, and they have meetings with production, their team meetings, management meetings, and that they would not be willing to wait 30 minutes to get to their meetings using the bus. I tried to explain that it doesn’t take that long for the buses, and that it is much the better option for the environment. However, she was not interested.

    She said that their employees often work 12 hour shifts and they would not want to wait another 30 minutes to get to their homes. She said that the employees usually park in the parking lot below, and they use the permits (I didn’t force the fact that they may want to save the permit fee, if they parked at the periphery of the campus and took the bus from there). Their employees usually have late night shifts as well, and I told her about the SafeRide program (she said that she knew about it).

    Finally, she said that a 30-minute presentation and a 30-minute demonstration of how to ride a bus, is a lot of time. She suggested that we should do the presentation while in the bus, to which I explained why it would not be effective. However, she still maintained that 1-hour is a lot of time to invest (and said that I can do a lot of work in 1 hour) for this program.

    Lisa suggested that I talk to Renee Laeyll from Employee Development and Learning, and include this in their program. She also suggested that I should contact the Department of Theatre (Cathy Feely) and Department of Dance (Ana Sapozhnikov) to see if their student, faculty, or staff would be interested in this program. Finally, she suggested that I contact LAS and Engineering to see if I could get a table during the Welcome Week at KCPA (as they hold the Undergrad Convocation at KCPA).

    Overall, KCPA was not interested in holding this event, although I did not have the correct information about the program.

    Thank you,

    Sarthak

  16. Weekly Update - Daily Illini news article, Working Bikes, WCIA,

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, Last week was a big press week. We landed on the cover of the Daily Illini on Thursday and then when we did our shipping event on Friday with Working Bikes WCIA showed up!  https://www.wcia.com/news/bike-project-helps-people-in-need/

    Good press all around!

    The shipping event went just about as well as it’s ever gone in my tenure. To start we had 200 fewer bikes to deal with, then Working Bikes provided twice as many staff as they have before, and to cap it off we had good turnout between my staff and volunteers. Unfortunately, volunteer and staff availability isn’t something I can count on every year.  

    For this week, today and tomorrow we’ll have LAS students in to volunteer. Other than that, it’s business as usual. We’re getting into finer and finer details of culling and organizing, getting into some deep cleaning, which I regret isn’t my strong suit but man does it make a difference. Next week we’ll be closed for Thanksgiving break.
    Also, a big thanks to Todd for grabbing scrap over the weekend.

    The numbers:

    Visitors: 40
    Sales: $527
    Bike (refurb): 1 or $150
    Bike (B-a-B): 1 for $80
    Memberships: 2 for $60
    Tires/tubes: 10 for $53
    Thanks!

    Jacob Benjamin
    Manager, Campus Bike Center

  17. Weekly Update - Bike Month discussion, Fix-a-Flat, Working Bikes

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, Last week was uneventful. Without traffic during hours we were afforded a lot of quality sorting/scrapping time.
    On Wednesday I met with F&S, Urbana/Champaign, and CCB to discuss Bike Month/BTWD planning and to reflect on this year’s Light The Night. We’ve set the date for Bike To Work Day as Friday, May 1st.
    Thursday was our Fix-a-Flat class that was a no-show unfortunately. However, it’s pretty much winter so attendance was expected to be low.
    Big news for this week is that we’ll be hosting Working Bikes again this year to help us alleviate our abandoned bikes problem. They’ll be down this Friday from about 11am – 2pm packing up bikes to take back with them to Chicago. TBP and I will be there on Wednesday to clear out the good ones. I’ve got a couple staffers who said they’re available to help but I’ll put the word out with TBP to see if we can stir up some more volunteers. The more the merrier!
    The numbers:
    Visitors: 67
    Sales: 171.50
    Bike (B-a-B): 2 for $65
    Memberships: 2 for $60
    Tire/tubes: 1 for $5

     

    Thanks!

    Jacob Benjamin
    Manager, Campus Bike Center

  19. Weekly Update - Working Bikes, Fix-a-Flat. Bicycle Food Drive

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, Last week was productive! We continued counting everything and made some real progress cleaning up here at the shop. I’ll be doing a walk-through this week with TBP on what to keep and not keep. I went to the bike barn and counted bikes: We’ve got 277 to donate to Working Bikes and 56 to keep. Those numbers are rough counts and not exact. Things are relatively organized over there now. Once we set a date for them coming down I’ll move all the bikes we want to keep out of there. Fingers crossed for an easier go of it this time around!
    This Thursday we have our Fix-a-Flat class at 11am. Doubtful turnout will be great. It is November, after all.
    On Saturday the Bike Project is hosting a bicycle food drive. All donations go to Eastern Illinois Foodbank, and we’ll be promoting that over here at the Bike Center. It’s a fun event I’ve participated in for years. 

    This week we’ll keep paring down our stock and keep cleaning up in advance of our TBD move!
    The numbers:
    Visitors: 61
    Sales: $527
    Bike (refurb): 1 for $170
    Memberships: 2 for $60
    Tires/tubes: 10 for $53

     

    Thanks!

    Jacob Benjamin
    Manager, Campus Bike Center

  20. VeoRide October 2019 ridership overview

    Associated Project(s): 
    Bike Share with Veo

    Please see the numbers below for the month of October 2019. ~400 e-bikes and ~75 pedal bikes

    October:

    Total Rides – 37,443

    • Peddle Bike – 3,677
    • E-bike – 33,766

    Total Users gained – 1,281

    Average Ride Time – 8.76 Minutes

    Overall:

    Total Rides: 375,147

    Total Users:19,749

    Reporting:

    • We received 5 reports to remove bikes from private property
    • We received 10 calls about bikes parked inappropriately

    Events: We were a sponsor for the Aruna 5k on Oct 26th. We provided 250 coupons good for $2 of ride credits

    Attached Files: 

Pages