Safety is paramount for all kinds of vehicles, including bicycles.

In order to better ensure the safety of all students, the Office of Transportation Services requires all bikes to be registered through the university.

The requirement of registering bikes to be used on campus has been made compulsory this semester. The registration and the bike parking tag is free of charge.

In order to register a bike, the student needs to bring their bike to the Office of Transportation Services located at Pride Hall. Once students fill out a registration card, they are able to obtain a tag to put on their bikes.

Gary Prescott, the director of the Office of Transportation Services, explained why the office decided to require all bikes to be registered through them.

“The biggest push behind getting bikes registered on campus is more of a safety and security reason,” said Prescott. “The database helps us better identify who is on campus and what bikes actually belong here. It also helps out in the case of some theft situations where the student can get help recovering their bicycle if it is ever found by the police.”

The university started a registration process last spring in order to ease into the process, but this semester, it is a mandated process for all students who wish to ride any type of bicycle on campus. Prescott explained the benefits of this new process.

“The biggest thing is being able to know who is on campus, why they are on campus and what bikes are going to be on campus,” described Prescott. “It is more of a safety issue than anything else. Since this is a public university, anyone can come here, so we want to make sure that no one is out of place. This can also help students feel more secure about bringing their bikes here. We also want to ensure the bike works properly. This makes it more safe for both the students riding the bikes and the students walking around campus.”

Prescott also feels students should be made aware of the penalties for violating these new policies.

“According to the policy, it says that there can be a $15 fine associated with an unregistered bike,” informed Prescott. “There are also fines that are associated for not locking your bike up properly to an assigned university bike rack. So, if you were to leave your bike chained to a tree, stairwell or you are blocking an entrance to a building those also come with a fine.”

There are several university designated bicycle racks on campus where students can leave their bicycles. These are located outside in front of most buildings on campus.

Prescott feels that students considering bringing their bike to campus and going through the bike registration process should consider the benefits one can gain from riding bike on campus.

“The benefits gained from riding a bike is that you can get where you need to go in a fairly quick manner,” said Prescott. “Riding a bicycle on campus is definitely the fastest mode of transportation. Having said all of this, we encourage all the students to follow all the safety rules and regulations.”

For more information regarding bicycle registration, contact the Office of Transportation Services.