July 8, 2013

By Tracy Cook

One year and 2,500 checkouts later, the Mizzou Bike Share program is looking for permanence.

The program launched Aug. 27, 2012 as the result of a joint effort between the Missouri Students Association and the Residence Halls Association and has since provided 2,506 checkouts as of June 28. Now listed as an MSA service under the tag line “Mizzou Bike Share — Providing rental bikes to students, free of charge,” the program is housed outside the MU Student Center.

In its first semester, bikes were checked out a total of 1,462 times, including a high of 501 times in September, according to data provided by Sarah Stone, technical director of MSA/GPC Tech.

During the second semester through the month of May, the number of checkouts dropped to 936. The drop could be attributed to multiple factors, such as sustained cold temperatures and a diminished sense of novelty that follows when a service is no longer “brand new,” said Bike Share co-creator James Jordan.

One change to the program, effective earlier this month, requires students to return the bikes back to the MU Student Center one hour before closing time. Stone said this change was made to remedy the problem of late check-ins, which had become routine.

“Because we were allowing students to keep the bikes for 24 hours, it was easy for them to forget what time they were due back,” Stone said. “We also had a handful of students checking the same bikes out over and over again, having them for days on end. We realized that these trends were resulting in fewer bikes being available at any given time for our student body.”

The new time limit means the bikes will be locked up overnight and available for checkout each morning. The intent is to make all bikes available to students each day, potentially raising the number of checkouts.

Maintenance was performed on the bikes throughout the year to accommodate normal wear and tear, such as rust build-up and worn decals. A few bikes were also taken to Klunk Bicycles and Repair for tune-ups.

“This summer, we are working hard to make sure the fleet is in top condition for the 2013-2014 school year,” Stone said.

As each checkout is associated with a student’s ID card, liability is placed on the student’s account until it is cleared after the bike is checked back in.

“Bikes are not being stolen on a regular basis,” Jordan said. “During the school year, there was a bike that got stolen. The person took all of the decals off the bike and tried to sell it to Klunk’s, and Klunk’s recognized it because they’re actually the bike shop that assembled the bikes for us.”

Last fall, Bike Share founders [tried to promote the program to MSA auxiliary status](http://www.themaneater.com/stories/2012/11/30/bike-share-may-become-msa-auxiliary/), but the measure [failed in the MSA full Senate](http://www.themaneater.com/stories/2012/12/7/bike-share-rejected-msa-auxiliary/). Despite consistent checkouts throughout the fall semester, an MSA poll of 300 respondents showed that a majority of students were not aware of the Bike Share program. However, the poll might not have reflected an accurate portrayal of program interest because of the small sample size, Jordan said.

“When the program was launched, it was expected to become a new MSA auxiliary,” Stone said. “When that did not occur, the program was taken over by the Environmental Leadership Office in the Department of Student Life.”

After the attempt at making Bike Share an auxiliary failed, the program was managed by Spencer Melgren, who primarily did paperwork, Jordan said. He left at the end of the semester.

Bike Share volunteers are looking for a manager for the upcoming fall semester to help oversee the paperwork and maintenance of the bikes, Jordan said.

“One of the things we’re working on is finding a way to get more permanent funding,” he said. “When we can get that, hopefully we can make our Bike Share manager position paid.”

If Bike Share reapplies to become an MSA auxiliary, it could potentially secure more permanent funding through MSA.

“We definitely want to expand (the program) in the future,” Jordan said. “But until we find a more permanent source of funding, it would be unwise to expand.”