Bicycle Repair Stations (Phase 2)
Executive Summary:
This project will build on the success of an earlier CSF project that installed five bicycle repair stations on campus by installing two additional Dero Fixits at strategic locations on campus. The new repair stations will allow students, employees, and visitors to fill their tires and perform basic repairs quickly, effectively removing maintenance and uncertainty as barriers to bicycling.
Repair stations will be installed in the Marine Studies/John Wallace Hall building cluster and at residence halls along Whitman Court. These areas were not served in the first round of installations but have since requested repair stations.
Phase 1 of this project initially proposed ten repair stations but was scaled back to five at the recommendation of the CSF selection committee. This was so we could gain experience with the repair stations on campus and see how they would be received by students and employees. Because they have been so well-received and heavily utilized, expanding to the remaining areas of campus is prudent.
To measure this project’s success, a student intern will conduct user counts and a satisfaction intercept survey at each of the new and existing locations once the new equipment has been installed. We will also monitor visits to the Repair Station website and track emails and press related to the repair stations.
The project will be coordinated with UW Housing & Food Services (for installations at residence halls), the University Landscape Architect, Maintenance & Alterations, and Commuter Services.
Student Involvement:
This project creates one 60-hour student job. The student will be responsible for planning and siting the repair stations using a set of criteria developed by the previous student intern during the project’s first phase. She or he will work closely with Commuter Services and Housing and Food Services staff, as well as the University Landscape Architect, the Grounds Manager, and building coordinators to identify optimal locations for each station. After reaching consensus on installation sites, the intern will then coordinate with Facilities Services and oversee the installation of each unit.
In addition to managing the planning and installation of the repair stations, the intern will also be responsible for updating Commuter Services website to reflect the new infrastructure, and will conduct outreach for the project – direct to students and employees, via emails to building coordinators, and through press releases to various media contacts (The Daily, Seattle Bike Blog, etc.) – throughout their term of service.
Essentially, the student intern will manage and oversee all aspects of the project with support from Commuter Services staff. This is an excellent opportunity for a student to gain hands-on experience managing a start-to-finish small-scale infrastructure and planning process that results in tangible, lasting, and appreciated changes as a direct result of their efforts.
The student position is a core element of the project. Repair stations will be valuable campus assets; however, equally important is the information and experience that the student intern will gain while managing the project. Because of this, I believe that a student intern is a valuable investment of CSF funds. If the CSF committee funded repair station purchase and installation but determined not to fund the student intern position, Commuter Services could absorb the project management with existing staff, but the outreach component of the project would be substantially scaled back commensurate with staff availability.
Education & Outreach:
We will use a variety of techniques to publicize the bicycle repair stations to the campus community:
- The repair stations are highly visible, and the 2012 design includes bicycle “branding” on the station itself. Because of this, they market themselves nicely. The 2012 stations also include a QR reader that links to a series of “How To” videos for a variety of basic repairs (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAtoXZV3Fhs&feature=youtu.be).
- As with the first phase of the project, we will market the repair stations on the Commuter Services Bike Repair website and other online locations (the existing repair stations were featured on the CSF website, The Daily, the Cascade Bicycle Club Blog, and Examiner.com).
- We will work with the Building Coordinators where repair stations are installed to distribute information to building residents and tenants.
- We will publicize the repair stations during our popular Bike to Campus Month and Ride in the Rain events, through Commuter Services’ Bicycle Interest list serve, and as part of our comprehensive bicycle branding program (slated for rollout in summer 2012).
The outreach and education goals for this project are two-fold and simple:
- To expose all students and employees to basic bicycle maintenance. At a minimum this means knowing how to pump up a low tire.
- To ensure that all students and employees have access to the necessary tools for performing simple maintenance and repairs, and that they are aware that they have access to those tools.
These goals are consistent with and complimentary to the bike classes that Commuter Services offers in conjunction with the Cascade Bicycle Club (uwcommute.com/bikeclasses), including “Spring Bike Maintenance – Keep it Rolling!” and “Flat? Just Fix It!” They also support the mission of the ASUW Bike Shop and the repair services and classes that they offer.
- Transportation
Environmental Problem:
This project contributes to UW Commuter Services’ goal of achieving a 20% bicycle mode share by the year 2020. Currently, 8% of students, staff, and faculty bike to campus, compared with 19% who drive alone. These drive alone trips contribute to our campus-related greenhouse gas emissions, lead to potential conflicts with pedestrians, bicyclists, and other drivers, and detract from the overall livability of the UW campus and the greater University District.
Providing bicycle repair stations is one way that the University can encourage the UW community to bike to and around campus rather than driving. In addition to providing the basic tools that keep bicycles on the go, the stations send a clear message that bicyclists belong on campus. Often, that simple welcoming message is the trigger that converts someone into a bicyclist. The belief that encouragement can foster behavior change is at the core of Commuter Services’ most successful bicycle encouragement programs. For example, 6-8% of participants in our flagship encouragement programs, Bike to Campus Month and Ride in the Rain, report that they are new to bicycling.
Explain how the impacts will be measured:
We will measure our project’s impact in several ways:
- Using a Googlemap of the repair stations, we will track the number of hits that the page receives and use this as a proxy for the number of students, staff, and faculty that we are reaching;
- We will measure the project’s benefit by the number of people who take advantage of the new and existing stations. To do this, the student intern will conduct user counts at each of the stations to determine how many people use them each day.
- The student intern will measure user satisfaction with the new and existing stations by developing and conducting a satisfaction intercept survey of station users.
- Commuter Services will continue documenting the number of bicycles parked on campus each spring and the campus bicycle mode share every two years to determine what impact the stations have on bicycling on and to campus.
This funding request is a: Grant
If this is a loan, what is the estimated payback period?:
Budget:
| Item | Cost per Item | Quantity | Total Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fixit Repair Station | $900 | 2 | $1800 |
| Pump replacement rebuild kit | $5 | 4 | $20 |
| Student Intern | $16.09* | 60 hours | $965 |
| Installation | $150 | 2 units | $300 |
Non-CSF Sources:
Timeline:
| Task | Timeframe | Estimated Completion Date |
|---|---|---|
| Procure Fixit Stations from Dero | 1 day | June 22nd |
| Hire student intern | 1 month | July 6th |
| Identify potential locations along Whitman Ct and Marine Studies cluster | 1 day | July 13th |
| Feild assess & refine locations | 3 days | July 13th |
| Work with stakeholders: Howard Nakase (onsite), building coordinators (onsite), and HFS (onsite) on siting issues | 1 week | July 20th |
| Prepare siting materials for review | 3 days | July 27th |
| Distribute siting materials to stakeholders for review and confirmation | 1 week | August 10th |
| Present to Grounds Improvement Advisory Committee | 1 day | August 21st |
| Revise locations based on GIAC feedback | 2 days | August 24th |
| Submit work order for installation | 1 day | August 27th |
| Install stations | 1 day | September 7th |
| Update website and Googlemap | 1 day | September 10th |
| Outreach to students and employees in Fixit-adjacent buildings | 2 days | October 5th |
| Develop and piolet intercept satisfaction survey | 2 days | October 5th |
| Administer intercept survey & conduct user counts | 1 week | October 12th |
| Write project summary report | 2 days | October 19th |