Students are now required to register bicycles

Baylor Parking Service now requires students to register their bicycles. Students who do not register their bicycles before the end of the school year may risk having their bikes removed and donated. Baylee VerSteeg | Multimedia Journalist

By Thomas Moran | Staff Writer

Baylor Parking Service now requires students to register their bicycles. Students who do not register their bicycles before the end of the school year, may risk having their bikes removed and donated.

Matthew Penney, director of parking and transportation services, is working to spread the latest news about the new policy.

Forgotten bicycles has become a large issue for Baylor in the past few years. Parking and transportation collected over 300 forgotten bicycles when they first addressed the issue several years ago.

Last year, parking and transportation began a “tag it” program to prevent abandoned bicycles. This summer will be the second year the policy will be in place.

“Last year went really well,” Penney said. “We promoted it well … The individuals who wanted to keep their bikes put something on it. We collected right at 200 bicycles last year. So, there are a lot of abandoned bikes.”

After graduation, parking and transportation representatives will go around campus to find bikes that have been left without a tag on the handle bar. Untagged bikes will be collected. After a 60-day period, the unmarked bicycles are donated to charities.

“We partnered with some charities, some Christian charities,” Penney said. “The last one we partnered with was on the border … they have to collect all the bikes. They go down and rework them and use them in their missionary purpose.”

The new registration policy requires that all bicycles parked on campus be registered with parking and transportation, Penney said. Fortunately, the process has been streamlined with their “click, click, send” process.

“You click a picture of the side of the bicycle,” Penney said. “You click a picture of the serial number which is usually underneath where the pedals meet and then you send that to bikeatbaylor.edu. We will do the registration to set you up and then we will have a sticker ready for you to pick up when ever you can come by.”

In the past, students had to bring their bikes to parking and transportation where they would be etched for registration, Penney said. The new registration will help with three primary goals: walkway safety, theft prevention and proper securement.

“Some of the bicycles are locked not on bike racks, but on ADA pathways and so we really want to clean that up,” Penney said. “We’ll see them chained to trees, we’ll see them chained to other things and that’s not appropriate.”

Parking and transportation is planning to spread the new policy through CL&L and other on-campus advertisements like televisions in the cafeterias and libraries.

A registration sticker will not prevent a student bike from being collected and donated. Students must have the paper tag on their handlebars to prevent bike impoundment over the summer.

Omaha, Nebras., freshman Teylor West registered his bike at the beginning of the year and thinks the benefits outweigh the small hassle of registration.

“I personally have my bike registered,” West said. “I think Baylor should have the right to require students to register their bikes because it’s Baylor’s bike racks and property. Also, there are lots of benefits to registering your bike. If your bike gets stolen, the police can spot the registration tags and potentially return your bike to you. Honestly, don’t know why you wouldn’t register your bike.”

Students are able to access tags and registration stickers by visiting the Parking and Transportations office in the Speight Parking Garage.