FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 10, 2017
Next Campus Bike Count to Take Place Wednesday Morning
CHAMPAIGN, IL – The Urbana campus’ sixth bike census will take place Wednesday, Oct. 11 from 10-11 a.m. New bike rack locations, bicycle infrastructure upgrades, and new Campus Bike Center programs are just a few of the items impacted by data collected from this biannual census.
The census is a collaborative, community-wide effort between Champaign County Bikes, Scholarly Commons, and Facilities & Services (F&S) that began in 2013 as part of ongoing improvement efforts to support the campus’ Bicycle Friendly University status.
Previous censuses counted more than 5,000 parked bicycles over a single hour. This year, volunteers will cover 24 specific campus areas and compile data using a geographic information system, smartphone-enabled application.
Last summer, F&S used census information to create an interactive Campus Bike Parking Map to help riders find parking locations. The map shows 500 different bicycle parking areas.
Abandoned Bikes Sent to Africa
Yesterday 317 abandoned or discarded campus bikes were donated to Working Bikes Cooperative of Chicago which will ship them to the Kingdom of Lesotho in Africa. The bicycles will help provide access to work, education, and medical resources. The Campus Bike Center also selected 51 bicycles for rehabilitation work and instructional classes.
Hundreds of bikes are left behind at the university each year, primarily when students leave for the summer. The Parking Department begins the collection process following Commencement. Unclaimed bicycles not reported as lost or stolen are stored in a secure campus warehouse to await shipment.
Media Contact:
Steve Breitwieser
Customer Relations & Communications
Facilities & Services
sbreit@illinois.edu
217-300-2155
Department Contact:
Lily Wilcock
Facilities & Services
Sustainability
lwilco2@illinois.edu
217-244-6865
Facilities & Services (F&S), provides and maintains a physical environment that is conducive to supporting learning, discovery, engagement, and economic development at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. F&S supports the university’s education, research, and outreach missions by improving the physical condition of the facilities and grounds through construction and building maintenance activities, providing utilities production and distribution, implementing energy conservation initiatives, and increasing customer satisfaction by delivering quality services in a responsive, reliable, and customer-focused manner. www.fs.illinois.edu.
Bike Census News Release PDF