U-Bike
Executive Summary:
Problem
University of Washington students have access to several cycling services on campus; UWild provides low cost bicycles for day and weekend use as well as bicycle programs and classes; Pronto bike-share is intended to offer users bikes for 30-45min trips between two bicycle hubs; and the Bike Shop provides a low cost bicycle repair, parts and free maintenance classes. These programs provide valuable services but fail to provide feasible cycling options for students who do not have access to a bike but could easily commute to campus by bike. This gap in service is detrimental to the University’s commitment to encouraging sustainability on campus and to students who would consider biking to campus if the option was made more accessible to them.
Solution
In order to provide students access to a bicycle they could use for commuting purposes I have created a plan to implement a new program called Cycle Pack. Cycle Pack is a bicycle library program that encourages bicycle ridership by providing long term bicycle rentals to UW students. Unlike bike share, which provide short term bicycle rentals between two hubs, and regular bike rentals, which facilitate daily or weekend use, a long term rental gives users an experience of bicycle ownership and the ability to commute by bicycle. The experience of ownership teaches users about the various ways a bicycle can fit into one’s everyday life as well as the responsibility that stems from maintaining and preventing bicycle theft. It is our view that providing an experience of bicycle ownership is the best way to demonstrate the value of a bicycle to a user and foster a desire to purchase a bicycle after completing the program. It is our goal to do more than just increase bicycle ridership on and to campus. We hope that providing this service will encourage sustainable cycling habits that persist into the rest of a user’s life.
Initially this program will start with a fleet of 20 bicycles. These bikes will be rented out to UW students for the duration of a quarter for a $50 sustainability fee. UWild will house the bicycle fleet, handle the maintenance and facilitate the rental transaction; EcoReps will be responsible for generation of advertisement materials; and UW Sustainability will assist in the promotion of the program, as well as facilitating a quarterly meeting between all the associated organizations partnered with the program. The quarterly meetings will be used to discuss marketing strategies, reflect on survey/application results, set goals, and plan for expansion of the program. The members of this meeting will be; UWild's assistant director Matt Jensen; UW Sustainability’s sustainability specialist, Sean Schmidt; The CSF Coordinator; The EcoReps Coordinator, the EcoRep’s Cycle Pack Outreach and Marketing Coordinator; and finally, UW Transportation Services’ active transportation specialist, Ted Sweeney.
Funding Requirements
For the first three years the program is running, data will be collected from applications, end of use surveys, marketing expenses, and component repair frequency. After three years there should be ample data on program costs and a plan will be drafted to expand the bicycle fleet. During the 5th year of service, the expansion plan will be implemented. After 5 years the initial grant money will be used up, and the program will rely on the revenue generated from the sustainability fee to continue its expansion efforts and keep up regular maintenance on their current bicycle fleet.
Organization
The implementation of this program, and the administrative functions will primarily be carried out by Matt Jensen of UWild. UWilds motto is “Live curiously. Experience nature. Be Wild.” It is UWild’s mission to engage students in outdoor activities through; educational classes, access to rental equipment, facilitated trips, and the fostering of adventurous clubs. Cycle Pack would expand the options of UWild’s current rental options. The organizations currently possesses a bicycle fleet which Matt oversees and maintains. Cycle Pack would expand the existing fleet managed by Matt and provide a new quarter long rental option. This option would supplement the existing daily and weekend rentals currently offered through the program.
Another promising feature of working with Matt is that he has a pre established relationship with the UW Bike Shop. He currently enlists bike mechanics from the Bike Shop to help maintain the current UWild bicycle fleet. While the initial plan for this program could not find a way to incorporate the Bike Shop, Matt’s relationship with the shop may lead to deeper collaboration between the two organizations in the future.
Student Involvement:
How will your project directly involve/affect UW students?
This project will specifically target UW students in order to foster sustainable transportation habits before students graduate and start making long term housing decisions that lock them into less sustainable transportation modes. Cycle pack will also be enlisting the services of EcoReps, a student run organization dedicated to advancing the sustainability efforts on the UW campus, in order to provide marketing support for program. By engaging EcoReps in the planning and marketing process, we are ensuring a student presence in the governing structure and messaging of the program.
If you plan to use student volunteers in your project, how will you identify and recruit student volunteers?
While Cycle Pack will be enlisting students to help with the program, this relationship is conducted through EcoReps. EcoReps is an organization that already conducts massive outreach to the UW community and engages students to participate in sustainability projects. One aspect of ecoreps that will make them indispensable is their ability to take on quarterly service learners. This structural element ensures consistent engagement in the organization, and as a result, guaranteed engagement in this proposed program. In the operation manual I drafted, I created a role of an EcoReps: Cycle Pack Marketing and Outreach Coordinator. This information will allow EcoReps to either advertise the role to the UW community, or enlist a service learner each quarter by posting the position to the Carlson Center website.
Education & Outreach:
How will the UW community find out about your project?
EcoReps will be responsible for the generation of advertising materials which will be distributed at; tabling events, posted in campus buildings, displayed on sandwich boards, and published digitally by EcoReps, UWild, UW Sustainability, and Cycle Pack, on their respective websites and facebook pages. EcoReps will assign the duties of advertising Cycle Pack to the Cycle Pack Outreach and Marketing Coordinator. This position will either be filled by one of Ecoreps quarterly service learners or a volunteer with the organization. Each quarter Cycle Pack will provide $100 for marketing of the program in order to purchase materials, and supplement the EcoReps printing budget. In addition to the network of supporting organizations I have brought together, this program is a result of my senior project in Community, Environment & Planning. I anticipate that my major would also be interested in advertising this program to their students and using it as both an example of the work CEP students produce and as a marketing tool for attracting new students to their program in the future.
How will the UW community become involved in and/or support your project?
While this program is only available to UW students, there are many ways the UW community can get involved in the program. Organizations interested in partnering with program can help fund the expansion of the fleet or assist in advertising efforts, and in exchange the logo of the organization will be added to the Cycle Pack fleet as well as our promotional materials. In one bicycle program I looked into, the head trauma research center of the associated university funded the purchase of bicycle helmets with their logo on for use by the bicycle library. Another way for the UW community to get involved in Cycle Pack is for faculty and staff who are interested in Cycle Pack to hand out informational materials to their students, or offer up Cycle Pack as a case study for their students to research, analyze, and suggest design improvements. Currently, the only way this program plans to involve the UW community, is through the currently partnered organizations, and the student involvement efforts conducted by EcoReps.
- Transportation
The revenue generated by the sustainability fee will be used to both fund the expansion of the Cycle fleet as well as the maintenance and marketing of the program once the initial grant money has dried up. If the program is fully utilized each quarter, the maximum revenue generated by cycle pack over five years is $15,000. This funding will be crucial to maximizing our ability to expand operations while ensuring regular maintenance and marketing costs will remain consistent. The argument could be made that this funding should revolve back into the CSF, but this would be drastically detrimental to our long term goals of expansion. Our current three phase plan consist of, phase one; test out marketing strategies, determine the rate of component decay, and other operational costs over the first three years of operation. After three years, the program enters phase 2; the development of a long term expansion plan in the quarterly cycle pack meetings. Finally, phase 3; the expansion plan will begin to take effect in summer before the fifth year of operation, and continue throughout the fifth year. Cycle Pack meetings from this point forward be used to amend the expansion plan as new variables emerge.
Environmental Problem:
Problem
Bicycle ridership in the United states is abysmal by European standards. In 2009 the percent of bicycle commute trips in America was 0.5%. This pales in comparison to the Netherlands where 26% of commute trips are made by bicycle. There are many reasons for this large difference in cycling rates but one of the largest has to do with the decentralization of American cities in the 20th Century as a result of the mass production of the automobile. American cities of the early 20th century were overcrowded and heavily polluted as a result of the industrial revolution. Cars made it possible for citizens to live farther away from the urban core and escape the smog of polluting industry. Europeans underwent a similar growth pattern, but due to the limited space they had to expand into, and the cost of oil after WWII, the dream found in America wasn't as feasible in Europe. This meant that the growth found in European cities corresponded to the need for public and active transportation networks. In America, our cities are finally beginning to densify, but they are still being designed to handle massive amounts of single occupancy vehicles. Because the focus has remained on cars; the American transportation network is not designed for active transportation modes, housing choices do not take into consideration using active transportation modes to get to work or the store, and there is an active resistance to funding transportation projects that don’t improve the ability of citizens to commute by car.
In America, 26% of greenhouse gas emissions are a result of or transportation. Transportation is “the second leading source of GHG emissions in the United States.” CO2 and other greenhouse gasses are not the only problems associated with automobiles; Cars pollute the air with noxious fumes that are carried by the wind and settle in areas surrounding the roadways; rain water sweeps away oil and chemical byproducts left on the roadways and this can pollute the land and waterways surrounding a road; the noise pollution generated by cars can also negatively impact humans and animals surrounding roads; the construction and maintenance of our roads generates large amounts of pollution both from the materials used and the machines that install them; the manufacturing and transportation of automobiles are huge sources of environmental degradation and generation of greenhouse gases. Clearly as a society, we need to rethink of the car as a convenient option, and really look at how it is hurting both our health and the health of the environment as a whole.
How your project addresses the environmental problem?
Recently there has been a lot of pressure to increase the efficiency of vehicles and reduce the pollution they cause, but to truly target the problem, more effort needs to be done to make alternative transportation options more feasible. While there will always be certain trips that make vehicles necessary, there is no reason that the majority of trips can’t be made by using public or active transportation modes.
Seattle and Portland have been leaders in the effort to integrate the bicycle into their city. Through the construction of bicycle infrastructure, cycling is made safer and more convenient for riders of all ages. While infrastructure improvements are the ideal solution to the problem, there needs to be public support for these changes. Therefore education and grass root efforts targeting social change are needed to build public support for infrastructure projects. The project that I am proposing fosters public support for bicycles by supplying users an experience of bicycle ownership. Even if a user doesn’t end up ultimately purchasing a bike at the end of the program, they will learn about the value a bicycle can offer a user in the city.
In addition to educating students on the value a bicycle can play in their everyday life, this program will also get more cyclists out on the road. When researching the psychology behind the choice to cycle, I found that one of the easiest ways to encourage people to cycle is simply by having more cyclists on the road. There are two reasons for this; first, the more cyclists on a road contribute to a feeling that the road is meant to be used by the user; second, users, and especially college age users, are attracted by the social aspect of cycling. While this program is intended to have the biggest impact on the users of the program, this aspect has the potential to motivate commuters to the university as a whole.
Explain how the impacts will be measured:
Many of the effects of this program will not be measureable. However, in an attempt to improve the program, and access if the program’s message reached the user, a survey will taken after each user completes the program. The survey will ask students to reflect on their experience, ask them what elements contributed to their experience and what could be changed, and finally, if they are more likely, after completing the program, to own a bicycle in the future.
This funding request is a: Grant
If this is a loan, what is the estimated payback period?:
Budget:
| Item | Description | Budget | Cost | Approximate Repair Frequency (Miles or Years) | Estimated Lifespan (Quarters) | Qty | Total or 5 Year Cost | Total W/Tax |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crankset (Chainrings + Crankarms + Chain guard) | 26/36/48t | Maintenence | $51.75 | 30000 miles | 60 | 5.00 | $258.75 | $283.33 |
| Pedals | Wellgo Platform | Maintenence | $14.00 | ? | 60 | 5.00 | $70.00 | $76.65 |
| Chain | KMC X9 | Maintenence | $18.00 | 3000 miles | 9 | 33.33 | $600.00 | $657.00 |
| Freewheel, Cassette | Shimano Acera 11-34t 9spd | Maintenence | $26.73 | 8000 miles | 24 | 12.50 | $334.13 | $365.87 |
| F/D | Shimano Altus | Maintenence | $21.51 | 8000 miles | 24 | 12.50 | $268.88 | $294.42 |
| R/D | Shimano Acera | Maintenence | $37.80 | 8000 miles | 24 | 12.50 | $472.50 | $517.39 |
| Shifters (Set) | Shimano Acera | Maintenence | $42.93 | ? | 30 | 10.00 | $429.30 | $470.08 |
| Front Brake Rotor + Caliper + Lever | Tektro HDM285 160mm | Maintenence | $29.00 | 20000 miles | 45 | 6.67 | $193.33 | $211.70 |
| Rear Brake Rotor + Caliper + Lever | Tektro HDM285 160mm | Maintenence | $29.00 | 20000 miles | 45 | 6.67 | $193.33 | $211.70 |
| Headset | FSA No.10P | Maintenence | $18.00 | 10000 miles | 30 | 10.00 | $180.00 | $197.10 |
| Front + Rear (Spokes, Hub, Rim) | Joytech 100x9mm | Maintenence | $197.00 | 30000 miles | 60 | 5.00 | $985.00 | $1,078.58 |
| Front Tire | Schwalbe Delta Cruiser 700x35c | Maintenence | $18.49 | 3000 miles | 9 | 33.33 | $616.33 | $674.89 |
| Rear Tire | Schwalbe Delta Cruiser 700x35c | Maintenence | $18.49 | 3000 miles | 9 | 33.33 | $616.33 | $674.89 |
| Disc Brake Pads (Set) | Tektro Disc Break Pads | Maintenence | $15.00 | 2000 miles | 6 | 50.00 | $750.00 | $821.25 |
| Fenders | Planet Bike Hardcore | Maintenence | $38.00 | ? | 30 | 10.00 | $380.00 | $416.10 |
| Lock | Kryptonite Kryptolok Series 2 STD U-Lock with Bracket: 4x9in | Maintenence | $40.95 | 15 years | 45 | 6.67 | $273.00 | $298.94 |
| Lights | Blaze Set | Maintenence | $70.00 | 8 years | 24 | 12.50 | $875.00 | $958.13 |
| Bike Computer/ Odometer | Planet Bike Protege Computer Black | Maintenence | $23.75 | ? | 30 | 10.00 | $237.50 | $260.06 |
| Bike Computer/ Odometer Battery | Pack of 20 CR2032 ($8.35) | Maintenence | $0.42 | 1.5 years | 4 | 75.00 | $31.31 | $34.29 |
| Bike | Dew Plus | Startup | $463.00 | na | na | 20.00 | $9,260.00 | $10,139.70 |
| Fenders | Planet Bike Hardcore | Startup | $38.00 | na | na | 20.00 | $760.00 | $832.20 |
| Lock | Kryptonite Kryptolok Series 2 STD U-Lock with Bracket: 4x9in | Startup | $40.95 | na | na | 20.00 | $819.00 | $896.81 |
| Lights | Blaze Set | Startup | $70.00 | na | na | 20.00 | $1,400.00 | $1,533.00 |
| Helmets | Ted | Startup | $25.00 | na | na | 20.00 | $500.00 | $547.50 |
| Key Box | Barska 64 Position Key Lock Box with Key Lock, Black | Startup | $66.00 | na | na | 1.00 | $66.00 | $72.27 |
| Bike Registration | Bike 529 (UW Police Use This) | Startup | $10.00 | na | na | 20.00 | $200.00 | $219.00 |
| Stickers | Cycle Pack Logo + Sponsor Logos | Startup | $52.00 | na | na | 1.00 | $52.00 | $56.94 |
| Bike Computer/ Odometer | Planet Bike Protege Computer Black | Startup | $23.75 | na | na | 20.00 | $475.00 | $520.13 |
| Lube | Boeshield T-9 Lube, 1 Gallon ORM-D | Startup | $114.99 | na | na | 1.00 | $114.99 | $125.91 |
| Degreaser | Finish Line Citrus Biosolvent, 128oz (1 Gallon) ORM-D | Startup | $99.99 | na | na | 1.00 | $99.99 | $109.49 |
| Marketing (No Tax) | Promotional materials and printing $100/quarter (No Tax) | Marketing | $100.00 | na | na | 15.00 | $1,500.00 | $1,500.00 |
Non-CSF Sources:
Timeline:
| Task | Start Date | End Date | Duration (Days) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Finalize Program Details | 12/6/2016 | 6/18/2017 | 195 |
| CSF Letter of Intent | 12/6/2016 | 3/27/2017 | 112 |
| CSF Full Proposal | 3/27/2017 | 5/1/2017 | 36 |
| Order Bicycles | 6/1/2017 | 8/1/2017 | 62 |
| Order Bicycle Components / Accessories | 6/1/2017 | 8/1/2017 | 62 |
| Initial Advertising | 6/1/2017 | 9/18/2017 | 110 |
| Phase 1: Data Collection | 9/27/2017 | 6/12/2020 | 990 |
| Fall Rental (Y1) | 9/27/2017 | 12/15/2017 | 80 |
| Winter Rental (Y1) | 1/3/2018 | 3/16/2018 | 73 |
| Spring Rental (Y1) | 3/26/2018 | 6/8/2018 | 75 |
| Fall Rental (Y2) | 9/26/2018 | 12/14/2018 | 80 |
| Winter Rental (Y2) | 1/7/2019 | 3/22/2019 | 75 |
| Spring Rental (Y2) | 4/1/2019 | 6/14/2019 | 75 |
| Fall Rental (Y3) | 9/25/2019 | 12/13/2019 | 80 |
| Winter Rental (Y3) | 1/6/2020 | 3/20/2020 | 75 |
| Spring Rental (Y3) | 3/30/2020 | 6/12/2020 | 75 |
| Phase 2: Plan For Expansion | 6/12/2020 | 9/29/2021 | 475 |
| Fall Rental (Y4) | 9/30/2020 | 12/18/2020 | 80 |
| Winter Rental (Y4) | 1/4/2021 | 3/19/2021 | 75 |
| Spring Rental (Y4) | 3/29/2021 | 6/11/2021 | 75 |
| Phase 3: Expansion Implementation | 6/11/2021 | 6/10/2022 | 365 |
| Fall Rental (Y5) | 9/29/2021 | 12/17/2021 | 80 |
| Winter Rental (Y5) | 1/4/2022 | 3/18/2022 | 74 |
| Spring Rental (Y5) | 3/28/2022 | 6/10/2022 | 75 |
