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INTRODUCTION Chico State has committed to achieving climate neutrality by 2030 for scopes 1, 2, and 3 greenhouse gas emissions. Students, faculty and staff commuting to and from campus is a scope 3 source of emissions and is the single largest source of greenhouse gas emissions for our campus – representing 45% of our total inventory. A reduction in vehicle travel and transition to more bicycling will contribute to reducing our scope 3 emissions, helping us achieve our climate neutrality goals. During the spring 2019 semester Green Machine, a Chico State organization under Facilities, Management, and Services’ Green Campus program, conducted a survey of our current campus bicycle parking infrastructure and bicycle parking utilization. Four members from the Green Machine team surveyed bicycle parking on campus during key occupancy times (Tuesdays and Thursdays between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.) documenting the location, type of rack, and percent utilization. The data and results from this study will be used to improve campus bicycle parking facilities. Chico State also conducted a transportation survey in spring 2019. The survey was sent to all students, faculty, and staff asking them to share their primary mode of transportation, frequency of commutes, and distance traveled. Many of the comments received shed light on campus bicycle parking habits and are shared in this report. There were also several comments that provide actionable projects to address our current campus bicycle parking and culture and compliment the recommendations made in this report.

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CAMPUS BICYCLE RACK TYPES There are three types of bike racks on our campus:

Park-A-Bike Racks • 15 locations • 962 total stalls on campus

Front Wheel Racks • 22 locations • 2,083 total stalls on campus

Wave Racks • 8 locations • 1,170 total stalls on campus

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BICYCLE RACK UTILIZATION DATA The below chart shows bicycle parking stall utilization rates on campus between 1980 and 2019. Note that studies were not conducted in 2012-2017. Rates have steadily declined since 1980 and are currently the lowest recorded with only 22% occupation. Comments received from the transportation survey highlighted that students, faculty, and staff generally agree that Chico is a great town for commuting by bicycle, however, our parking facilities and security could use significant improvement. The transportation survey asked respondents where they park their bikes once on campus. Of the 140 faculty and staff who left comments, 134 people are parking their bikes inside their offices or buildings due to fear of or previously experienced theft or vandalism. Students, unfortunately, do not have the luxury of parking their bikes inside. While the larger number of bikes inside offices and buildings may be a large contributing factor in the declining number of bicycles parked in outdoor stalls, it may not necessarily be an indicator of less people riding their bikes to campus. Comments from students also sited fear of or previously experienced theft and vandalism as a primary reason for not riding to campus. Students, faculty, and staff all stated inadequate lighting in and around campus makes riding home after night classes or evening activities feel unsafe and lack of covered parking facilities deterring rainy weather riding.

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Chico State Bike Rack Utilization

# Stalls Available # Bikes in Stalls % Overall Use

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UTILIZATION BY ZONE & LOCATION Below is the map used to locate and survey bicycle parking on campus. The campus was divided into three separate zones: zone 1 being the north-west of campus, zone 2 the south-west of campus, and zone 3 encompassing the entire east side of campus. All bicycle parking locations are represented on the map as red dots, the overlaying colored bubbles represent the utilization. The green overlying bubbles demonstrate the highest utilization (50%+ utilization), yellow representing mid-range used stalls (25-49% utilization), and the most underutilized stalls in red (under 25% utilization). The size of the overlying bubble correlates to the number of parking stalls at the particular location – the larger the bubble, the more stalls. Locations 28-30 outside the Student Services Center in zone 2 have the highest utilization rate with 55-67% occupancy. Locations 9 and 16 in zone 1 also had higher utilization rates than the majority of racks with 50% occupancy. Locations 49 and 50 in zone 3 outside of the University Police Department are one of the largest centralized bicycle parking locations and had 0% occupancy. From the data we drew the conclusion that zone 2 had the most utilization of racks followed by zone 1, and zone 3 having the least. One possible factor could be that zone 3 is closer to public spaces and communal parks which are frequently occupied by transient populations. Another factor is that zone 1 includes central services utilized by all students such as Meriam Library, Student Services Center, and Bell Memorial Union (BMU).

For full zone utilization data see Attachment A.

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DATA ON BICYCLE RACK STYLE A properly locked bike is one where the frame and front wheel are locked to a bicycle rack. Front wheel-style racks are difficult to properly lock a bike and yet make up nearly half of all campus bike racks. The Park-a-Bike racks are considered to be the most user friendly, allowing riders to quickly and easily properly lock their bikes, yet this style of rack is the least used style of rack on our campus. Wave style racks make up 28% of the racks on campus. While wave racks do allow for proper locking of a bike, they are not the most user friendly due to the crowding of bikes.

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Bicycle Parking by Stall Type

Undocumented Rack Type Park-a-bike

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RECOMMENDATIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT The data collected suggests there is a significant decrease in the utilization of bicycles on campus. This data paired with the commentary from the 2019 transportation survey demonstrates there are improvements needed. Most bicycles observed in the study were parked in areas that are considered to be closer to the campus core. The locations on the outskirts such as by Yolo Hall and the University Police Department/Parking Structure II were used substantially less. Locking a bike on the outskirts and having to walk across campus is a barrier for some people to ride a bike to campus. It is recommended that a central bike path be introduced to campus, allowing users more accessibility to campus core destinations via bike. With the implementation of a central bike path, it is additionally recommended that the current underutilized parking stalls on the edges of campus be relocated closer to the core of campus where they will have more traffic and utilization. Moving bicycle parking closer to the core of campus could potentially ease fears of vandalism and theft and could make monitoring the parking facilities easier for the University Police Department. Our campus currently offers a number of bike lockers for rent. However, there are only twelve available to the over 19,000 students, faculty, and staff on our campus. The installation of more bike lockers or secure parking facilities would be a huge improvement. A limited-access facility available only to those with a Wildcat ID could further ease concerns from users regarding safety and fear of theft or vandalism. It is recommended that the campus should continue to invest in replacing front wheel racks with more user-friendly options such as the Park-a-Bike racks; increasing the likelihood of utilization. Special attention should be paid to rack locations 2, 11, 20, 36, 38, and 42. These locations include front wheel racks with stalls that have been bent or damaged to the point that they are inaccessible for bike parking. If Chico State takes measures to improve conditions and infrastructure around bicycling, there are a number of commuters that stated in the 2019 transportation survey that cycling would be their primary mode of transportation to and from campus. By acting on the recommendations in this study, we could create a stronger and more robust culture of bicycling for our campus and community, thereby reducing our greenhouse gas emissions.

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Attachment A: