Student bicycle use increases
University provides extra bike racks to compensate
Janie Boschma
Issue date: 11/13/08 Section: News
UW-Eau Claire staff said a dramatic increase in bicycle use this semester has made it challenging to keep up with the demand for parking.
Facilities Planning and Management's buildings and grounds supervisor Randy Palmer said he has never seen so many people biking to campus in his 22 years of working for the university.
Junior Aja Wagnitz said she bikes to campus almost every day just because it's quicker than walking and easier to find parking than with a car.
Wagnitz said she's never had an issue with finding a rack to lock her bike and doesn't know why other students have resorted to locking their bikes to trees and signposts.
"These extra bike racks work just fine," she said, pointing to one of the temporary racks that she uses outside of Hibbard Hall.
Palmer said there are 36 bike racks on campus, for a total capacity of 1,330 bicycles. They added temporary racks east of Sutherland Hall, west of Hibbard Hall and east of Haas Fine Arts this semester.
"We're trying to get this under control," he said. "Unfortunately, it's come at a time when our budget is squeezed really hard."
Palmer said he'd still like to add more racks, hopefully to accommodate an additional 100 bikes, next semester.
Until more bike racks are added this spring, Parking and Transportation Services coordinator Kim O'Kelly said her staff has cut back on issuing tickets.
Normally, Parking Services ticket and attach a lock onto all bikes locked to anything but a bike rack, O'Kelly said. The lock isn't removed until the owner pays the $5 fine within a week of receiving the ticket.
But this semester O'Kelly said her staff has "turned their heads" to bikes locked to trees and signposts, and only tickets bikes locked to railings since they interfere with handicap accessibility.
O'Kelly said they lock bikes because not all are registered, and otherwise Parking Services has no way to find the owner to issue a fine. She said her office only issues tickets to deter bikers from parking anywhere but in a rack.
Facilities Planning and Management's buildings and grounds supervisor Randy Palmer said he has never seen so many people biking to campus in his 22 years of working for the university.
Junior Aja Wagnitz said she bikes to campus almost every day just because it's quicker than walking and easier to find parking than with a car.
Wagnitz said she's never had an issue with finding a rack to lock her bike and doesn't know why other students have resorted to locking their bikes to trees and signposts.
"These extra bike racks work just fine," she said, pointing to one of the temporary racks that she uses outside of Hibbard Hall.
Palmer said there are 36 bike racks on campus, for a total capacity of 1,330 bicycles. They added temporary racks east of Sutherland Hall, west of Hibbard Hall and east of Haas Fine Arts this semester.
"We're trying to get this under control," he said. "Unfortunately, it's come at a time when our budget is squeezed really hard."
Palmer said he'd still like to add more racks, hopefully to accommodate an additional 100 bikes, next semester.
Until more bike racks are added this spring, Parking and Transportation Services coordinator Kim O'Kelly said her staff has cut back on issuing tickets.
Normally, Parking Services ticket and attach a lock onto all bikes locked to anything but a bike rack, O'Kelly said. The lock isn't removed until the owner pays the $5 fine within a week of receiving the ticket.
But this semester O'Kelly said her staff has "turned their heads" to bikes locked to trees and signposts, and only tickets bikes locked to railings since they interfere with handicap accessibility.
O'Kelly said they lock bikes because not all are registered, and otherwise Parking Services has no way to find the owner to issue a fine. She said her office only issues tickets to deter bikers from parking anywhere but in a rack.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 2
alum34
posted 11/13/08 @ 7:12 AM CST
Wow, I can't believe this is front-page news. Everything else must be going just perfectly at UWEC, which is good news.
I went to school there from 1992-1996. (Continued…)
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