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Projects Updates for theme: Transportation

  1. Bike recycle event, KellerWilliams Realtor RED Day Bicycle Recycle event

    Associated Project(s): 

    Happy Bike Month Everybody,

    We have lots of bike-related events going on in May.  And as the use of bikes and the local bike community grows, we will have more and more bike events.  This is all good.  Champaign County Bikes will try to share local bike information and keep everyone informed. (A growing task for us, and one of the reasons we need to grow and add capacity!)  For now, during Bike Month - our Bike Month calendar and resources are at www.CUBike.org  A more complete and ongoing bike event calendar that draws from many of our local bike groups is at our CCB website, www.champaigncountybikes.org.

    I just want to quick highlight a new event, one I just received some information on tonight.  I believe it’s good that all of us who share leadership roles in our bicycle community are well informed, given that that we might be asked about any bike-related event in town, including this new event.  Scott Bechtel and his staff at KellerWilliams Realtor are hosting this RED DAY Bicycle Recycle event, and as I understand it are promoting it primarily within their extensive network of contacts, and then generally in the community.  One of our CCB members knows Scott and they have had some conversations. This is how CCB knows of RED DAY.  Red Day falls on our local Bike to Work Day, Thursday, May 14.

    You can find more information at:  www.KWChampaignRedDay.com, at KellerWillimas, or their Facebook page.

    Thanks for everything all of you are doing to make Champaign County an awesomely Bicycle Friendly Place!

    Jeff

    Jeff Yockey

    President

    Champaign County Bikes

    jeff@champaigncountybikes.org

    www.champaigncountybikes.org

    217 565-1785

     

     

     

  2. May 21 2015 minutes

  3. bike warehouse cleanout

    Associated Project(s): 

    Michelle,

    I have removed all bikes from the warehouse.

    James

    From: Wahl, Michelle
    Sent: Tuesday, April 28, 2015 6:27 PM
    To: Roedl, James M
    Cc: Johnston, Morgan B; DeLorenzo, Stacey; Calloway, Jason Robard; Wise, Michael Anthony
    Subject: Re: Bike Pick Up!

    That is awesome thanks for the quick reply! I will let Kari know tomorrow! 

    Michelle 
    Sent from my iPhone


    On Apr 28, 2015, at 5:18 PM, Roedl, James M wrote:

    Michelle,

    I can work with Kari and should be able to get all of those bikes out by Friday the 1st.  If that works for you.

    Thanks,
    James

     

  4. Quad Day registration

    Associated Project(s): 

    From: quad-day@illinois.edu [quad-day@illinois.edu]
    Sent: Monday, April 13, 2015 1:03 PM
    To: Roedl, James M
    Subject: Quad Day Registration Confirmation

    This is to confirm that we have received your 2015 Quad Day registration. However, this does not guarantee you a spot for Quad Day until a balance check has been done on your credit card or RSO account.
    If you have any questions, please email quad-day@illinois.edu.

    Organization Name: The Bike Project of Urbana-Champaign
    Organization Type: Non-Profit, Community Organizations
    Primary Name: James Roedl
    Primary Phone: 217-244-1196
    Primary Email: jmroedl illinois.edu
    Second Contact Name:
    Second Contact Email:
    Payment Type: CreditCard
    Payment Amount: $28.00

  5. iCAP Working Group Agenda for 4/2/2015

    Dear iCAP Working Group Members,

    As a reminder, we will be meeting this Thursday at 1:30 (and also next Thursday, 4/9, at 1:30).

    This week we will discuss the timeline for completing our work on the iCAP, and then turn our attention to the 7 attached formal recommendations we've received from the Transportation and Purchasing, Waste, and Recycling SWATeams.  Please review these in advance of the meeting, so that we can discuss them most efficiently.  If you will not be able to join us due to a schedule conflict, please email me in advance if you have any particular concerns.

    Next week (4/9), we'll be joined by Kent Reifsteck and Mike Larson from F&S, and also Scott Willenbrock from the Energy Generation SWATeam, so that we can discuss what the iCAP should say about charting a pathway for clean energy for our campus.

    Thanks,

    Ben

    Professor Benjamin J. McCall

    Associate Director for Campus Sustainability Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign campus-sustainability@illinois.edu

  6. April 2 2015 minutes

  7. Previous description in iCAP Portal - paragraph removed

    Associated Project(s): 

    Administrative Information Technology Services (AITS) has played a large role in leading this discussion and is working with Facilities & Services to try to implement a bike share program before Fall 2014. AITS hopes to partner with other departments on campus to create a cohesive and connected bike share system within the University.

  8. Previous description in iCAP Portal

    Associated Project(s): 

    Transportation Demand Management (TDM) in Facilities & Services is finalizing the 2014 Campus Bike Plan, a master plan to direct our efforts for future bicycle infrastructure improvements and program development.  The official public comment period for the Campus Bike Plan ended in April 2013, but additional feedback is always welcome via the online bicycle feedback form.

    The draft 2014 Campus Bike Plan was available for public input during a four-week period, and members of the campus community were encouraged to review the plan and submit their comments and feedback via the online Campus Bicycle Feedback Form

     

  9. Safety "Zine" idea

    Associated Project(s): 

    I have been working with Jeff and there were two things we thought would be a good use of resources.  The first is a safety  booklet.  It would be modeled after a "zine" which is a DIY publication that is popular with young people.We were thinking it would be cool to have the same guy who did last year's Bike Month t-shirt illustrate the zine with content we provided. - James Roedl


     

  10. Traffic Skills 101 course

    Associated Project(s): 

    The second idea we wanted to pursue was putting on the TS 101 courses.  The normal cost that Cynthia charges is $65 per person.  We thought we could contract with CCB $400 or $500 to do a full day lunch provided TS101 training for 10-15 people.  It would be offered to students and staff who wanted to learn more about safety and promised to be a safety advocate.  This would save money over the total cost of training and allow a larger group of folks receive serious safety training. - James Roedl
     

  11. update from Ben McCall

    Dear Transportation SWATeam,

    Morgan and I had a very nice discussion with Pam Voitik at F&S late last week, and I wanted to brief you on some of the key points as they relate to the iCAP revisions.

    1) F&S is in favor of hiring a full-time "Active Transportation Coordinator," and having that person report to the Transportation Demand Management Coordinator (Stacey DeLorenzo).  "Active Transportation" (as you probably all know, but I didn't!) is industry lingo for all transportation except single-occupancy-vehicles.  So this person would be responsible for mode shift, the Bike Plan, and so forth...basically the last two bullet points in item #6 on page 30 of the current draft.

    2) Pete Varney and his team would be the sensible locus for efforts related to shifting the fleet more towards EVs and bicycles, and exploring renewable fuels for the fleet.  [The second and third bullet points in item #6 on page 30.]

    3) The first bullet point, about air travel, is outside of the scope of F&S, and should perhaps be a focus of iSEE or another entity in the domain of the Chancellor or Vice Chancellors.

    4) The Campus Bicycle Plan is essentially finalized now, but F&S is working on ascertaining exactly what entity should formally approve it. 

    Pam's suggestion is that it should be approved by the campus leadership (rather than by F&S), but the responsibility for implementing it should be with F&S.  This would give the Plan more authority/heft than if it were approved by F&S alone. There is reason to hope that this approval will be finalized before the iCAP.

    Cheers,

    Ben

     

  12. Update from Ben McCall

    Dear Transportation SWATeam,  [Sorry for the barrage of emails...this is the last one for this morning!]

    I met with Michelle Wahl from Parking late last week, and she had some very useful comments on the iCAP draft that I thought I should share with you:

    1) She mentioned that in years past, she used to receive "idling reports" on her vehicles, which must have been equipped with some sort of system that tracked when the vehicles were idling.  This raised the question of whether such technology could be deployed widely on our fleet, rather than focusing only on "class 6 and above trucks" (neither of us knew exactly what that means).

    2) She was concerned about the financial aspects of providing additional opportunities for people to purchase less than full-time parking privileges in lots with wait lists...this is probably something that deserves further discussion.  If Parking allows someone to drop their full-time parking pass for a particular lot and instead purchase less than full-time for the same spot, their revenue will decrease.  This is concerning because Parking is legally required to be self-supporting -- they cannot receive any subsidy from campus, nor can they make a profit.

    3) She recommended adding a recommendation that parking rates be increased to provide a dis-incentive for single-occupancy vehicle use. 

    This would also be essential if the number of parking permits sold were to decrease, as Parking's costs are essentially fixed. Raising rates would be a challenge because they are subject to collective bargaining, but it has been successfully done on other campuses (including UIC). 

    Having an explicit call for this in the iCAP might help provide ammunition for such efforts.

    4) She recommended some investigation of the subsidy that Parking currently provides to MTD.  At present, Parking pays over $500K per year for this, ostensibly to support the buses that run to the "shuttle lot" (E-14, I think).  But this amount greatly exceeds the total revenue that Parking receives from selling permits in the shuttle lot.  She thought it was worth making sure that the amount Parking is contributing towards the MTD is the appropriate amount, because any funds that could be "saved" there could be directed towards other sustainability-related initiatives within Parking.

    5) She pointed out that there are now 18 "Level 1" charging stations for electric vehicles on campus, and Parking has plans to install some "Level 2" charging stations in 2015.  She thought it might be worth showcasing this work on page 29 of the current draft, and I am inclined to agree.

    Cheers,

    Ben

  13. BIF crosswalk survey overview

    U of I F&S Trial Crosswalk between the Business Instructional Facility (BIF) and Wohlers Hall

    In recent years, pedestrian safety on-campus has become a growing concern at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (U of I). One such issue was raised by U of I’s College of Business, specifically on the frequency of pedestrians jaywalking between the Business Instructional Facility (BIF) and Wohlers Hall, just south of the intersection at Sixth Street and Gregory Drive. Using funding from the College of Business, U of I’s Facility & Services (F&S) implemented a temporary mid-block crosswalk in the area on September 22, 2014.

    In order to assess if this temporary crosswalk should be installed permanently, a survey was created by 2 Liberal Arts & Sciences (LAS) James Scholars (Sicong Fang and Ethel Liao) with the guidance of U of I F&S employees (Morgan Johnston, Stacey DeLorenzo, and Roland White). The survey collected over 500 electronic responses from the perspectives of pedestrians, bicyclists, drivers, and bus drivers in the affected area for 2 weeks from October 31 - November 14, 2014. Survey participants included U of I students, staff, faculty, and guests; they were contacted via targeted email newsletters (departmental, eweek, F&S, and CUMTD), official U of I social media channels (Facebook and Twitter for F&S, the College of Business, and CUMTD), and on-site surveying with iPads by the LAS James Scholar students. Questions on the survey were based on a 1 to 5 number scale and allowed respondents to explain why they rated each item as they did. Topics covered included how perceptions on safety, convenience, and traffic flow changed upon the temporary crosswalk’s installation; there was also an area for respondents to suggest other problematic transportation spots on-campus and how the process F&S went through for this crosswalk may be improved for future projects. Final analytics on collected data were done by Sicong with the help of the summarization function in Google Forms.

  14. notes from phone call

    All

    Thanks for a good call. Attached is the summary of our meeting with to dos. In summary:

    1. Jim will run a FY14 travel report and look into tracking Amtrak
    2. We will develop content for website and messaging by mid-December, including info from Amtrak. Morgan and Stacey from facilities at UIUC will start that.
    3. Final language will be provided to OBFS by early January, after it is circulated among the group.
    4. Cathy will put the info on the website for start of spring semester and OBFS will announce it.
    5. Sustainability Offices (Cindy and Stephanie) will work on targeting the units that have the highest levels of auto travel between campuses.
    6. We will monitor the data to see how effective this was and opportunities for policy change.

    Cindy

  15. Working Bikes donation

    Associated Project(s): 

    Michelle,

    This Saturday we removed 390 bicycles from the warehouse.  Of the bikes we planned to ship to Ghana 60 or 70 did not fit into the shipping container.  I am arranging for Working Bikes to come down in a few weeks and pick these up.  I do not have a date yet.  I will let you know as soon as I can confirm details.  There are also about 60 good bikes that I will transfer from the warehouse to the bike center.  I will work with Tina and the other parking employees to get this done.

    Thanks,

    James Roedl

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