Bicycles are a hot commodity in downtown Phoenix and Tempe, where bicycling is an easy way to commute. But bicycles can be difficult to lock and can be stolen, which spurred ASU into action.
Parking and Transit Services, with funds from student government, is installing a “secured bike corral” that will be free for students on the north side of the University Center parking garage as a way to increase bike security.
About 70 bicycles can be stored inside the locker, which can only be opened a student who swipes his or her ASU ID on a card reader, USGD President Frank Smith said.
Students will need to register their bicycles with the ASU Police Department before they can use the locker, wrote Shereen Shaw, communications specialist with business and finance communications at ASU, in an email. Once the locker is ready for use, the registration form will ask if the owner would like access to storage facilities.
Students will need to provide their own locks to secure their bicycles once they are inside the locker. The corral is intended to accommodate cyclists who lock up their bikes for extended periods of time because of how long it takes to use the bicycle locker, Shaw wrote.
The first bicycle locker opened on the Tempe campus in November. An instructional video was released on Vimeo in late 2013 that shows how to properly store and secure a bicycle inside the Tempe locker.
“The Downtown location is growing,” Smith said. “It’s reasonable to have more bicycle storage space for students.”
Project manager Ryan Byrd declined to comment.
Funds for the bicycle locker facility came from Parking and Transit Services with contributions from USGD, Shaw said.
ASU Police Commander Christopher Speranza said reported bike thefts were down on the Tempe campus, but it is unknown if that is because of the bicycle lockers or a combination of recently implemented theft prevention systems.
“They have the bike valet where you can check in your bike to a student worker and then the cages like we’re putting up (downtown),” Speranza said. “It can be any combination of things, but it seems to be working better over in Tempe.”
Smith said he believes this may encourage more students to bike on the Downtown campus.
“At the very beginning of the year, some students were coming up to me, and they’re like ‘Frank, I have this $500 bike, and I don’t want to leave it out there because my bike might get stolen,’” Smith said. “But now that there’s this bike storage place, it’s going to be the perfect opportunity for students to have their bikes.”
Smith said a free air pump will also be installed outside the bicycle locker for students to use. Construction should be completed in March.
Director of Facilities Management Dominique-Claude Laroche was unable to be reached for a comment.
Contact the reporter at alacasse@asu.edu
