We had lovely weather on Friday for EarthStock. Thanks to Chris, Jack, Brooke, and Mat for volunteering their time at the table. We made a few friends that joined us for rides on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning.
On Friday, a few of us rode around the central campus areas to locate bike racks and survey their usage. On Saturday, we rode around the dorms and graduate student apartments. A summary of our findings is on its way, but for now check out some of the photos of bikes mapped to their location. The goal with this is to identify bikes that should be removed due to neglect, recycle them or reuse them as possible through the Freewheel Collective’s bike granting programs. We also wanted to try and understand how bike racks can be better used.
Given the number of (apparently) unused racks, we have realized that more bike racks is not necessarily the best remedy. Well-placed and covered racks can hopefully improve the common situation of bikes rusting over the winter and then being abandoned by students. The West Apartments have many racks but most of the bikes on them have been stripped of their wheels, seats, and handlebars. It seems like the damage is not as bad when the racks are placed at the main entrance of the buildings (compared to the racks behind the buildings). More analysis to come and your comments and feedback are appreciated.
After we completed our survey on Saturday, we took a short jaunt down to the Stony Brook Harbor, Village, and skirted around the Mill Pond and Avalon Preserve. We stopped for ice cream in the village and returned to campus. It was a swell day.
