Building a bike-friendly campus

With stair-covered hills, car-clogged streets, pedestrian-filled
walkways and a reputation for theft, UCLA is not exactly a
bike-friendly campus.

But that could be changing now that the university has begun to
act on some of the long-held concerns of the university’s
cycling community.

Responding to recommendations in the university’s bicycle
master plan, which is currently in draft form, UCLA Transportation
Services installed 20 bike lockers and funded a campus bike shop
just before the beginning of the quarter.

The department also worked with Cultural and Recreational
Affairs to offer reduced-cost passes to the Student Activity Center
so bike commuters can shower, and is planning to install signs
telling cars to watch for cyclists on Charles E. Young Drive,
Tiverton Drive, and De Neve Drive.

“This is something we definitely had a lot of requests
for,” said Sam Corbett, manager of planning and policy for
UCLA Transportation Services.

Transportation services invested about $5,000 to equip the UCLA
Community Bike Center ““ usually called the Bike Shop ““
with tools, and spent about $40,000 to buy and install the bike
lockers.

The Bike Shop is meant to be a place where cyclists can gather
and get their bikes fixed, and the lockers were put in because of
widespread and well-founded concerns about bike theft.

One hundred and twelve bikes have been reported stolen from
campus, on-campus housing, and Westwood since the beginning of
2005, according to data compiled by Kristi Godines, crime analyst
for the university police.

Sociology professor Jack Katz once had a bike stolen on campus,
which left him feeling “pretty disgusted with their
security.” He said he probably wouldn’t use the lockers
because he can put his bike in his office, but he likes the
idea.

Campus bicycle theft has taught many UCLA cyclists to leave
their good bikes at home and ride junkers to class.

But now that lockers are available, some say they will start
commuting on their better rides.

“I bought a cheepo clunker bike so I wouldn’t care
(if it got stolen). I keep my good bike in my room,” said
Heather Armstrong, a graduate student in the Teachers Education
Program. But her better bike is much nicer to ride, Armstrong said,
and she would use it to commute if she could leave it in a
locker.

The lockers allow cyclists to keep their bicycles safe inside
perforated steel boxes. Six lockers are located in parking lot
seven by the IM field, six are in lot five behind Rolfe Hall, four
are in lot two by Hilgard Avenue and Westholme Avenue, and four are
in the Community Health Sciences lot.

Using the bike lockers is inexpensive. It costs $5.95 to be a
member of the Park-by-Phone network, and $.50 to leave a bike for
up to three hours. The maximum charge is $1 per day and $15 per
month.

But using the services requires some technological savvy and
patience.

Users sign up for the Park-by-Phone Bicycle Parking Network
through the UCLA Transportation Services Web site and reserve a
locker by phone or online at the bicycle parking section of the
Transportation Services page. Then upon arrival at the parking
garage one must call the Pay-by-Phone number ““ which
recognizes the caller’s number with caller ID ““ to get
the locker combination. The user then types in the code and the
door springs open. That process is repeated when the cyclist
returns to collect the bike.

Currently, only a few of the new lockers are being used each
day.

Corbett said he hopes they will be used heavily, and if they
are, Transportation Services will likely install more.

Having lockers is important, but they only serve a small
percentage of the cycling community, said members of the Bicycle
Advocacy Committee.

“The bike lockers are great for people who have nice
bikes, but there are a lot more bikes this quarter and the bike
racks are overflowing,” said Dorothy Le, a fourth year
geography and environmental studies student and a member of the
BAC.

There are currently more than 1,600 bicycle parking spaces on
campus. New racks have recently been installed at 11 locations
including MacGowan Hall, the Wooden Center, and the School of
Dentistry.

As with the bike lockers, word is still getting out about the
Bike Shop, but enthusiasm is widespread among cyclists who have
heard about it.

“That is tremendously exciting,” Le said, adding
that the shop provides a much needed service. Having a convenient
place to maintain bikes is an important part of encouraging cycling
because students will often give up riding if their bikes break,
she said.

The shop inhabits part of an equipment garage at the Northwest
corner of the John Wooden Center, across from the Intramural
Field.

Starting the shop was a cooperative effort: Transportation
Services bought the equipment for the shop and UCLA Recreation
provided the space and hired Jacob Aftergood, who has worked as a
salesman and technician at bike shops in San Diego, Santa Cruz, and
Los Angeles, to run it.

The shop offers maintenance and sells basic bike parts and
accessories. It also has tools that students and other UCLA
Recreation members can use for free to fix their bikes.

With very limited advertising, the shop drew more than 50 people
during the first week of school, and it is likely to grow,
Aftergood said.

Currently he is mostly doing maintenance and giving advice, but
Aftergood hopes to expand to selling used bikes and possibly new
bikes, he said.

Moves like installing lockers and building a bike shop
won’t make UCLA like other California campuses where
everybody bikes such as Stanford, UC Davis and UC Santa Barbara,
but they are a start, cyclists say.

“It really seems like they are trying to make UCLA a more
bike-friendly campus, which is really great,” said Hilary
Strong, a third year geology student.

“Don’t anticipate it will turn into UCSB, but
it’s nice they are making the effort,” Strong said.

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