Bicycle Friendly University
Goals and Objectives
Bicycle Friendly University (BFU) supports the intersection of climate action, campus health, and equity. Road vehicles account for roughly one-quarter of global carbon emissions; a bike-friendly campus can help lighten the emissions. Safe bike parking also pays dividends in mental and physical well-being and broadens access for students who cannot afford a car. Our overriding goal is to give the Office of Sustainability a decision-ready, data-rich foundation that will support and accelerate the pursuit of getting at least a Gold Bicycle Friendly University (BFU) rating in the League of American Bicyclists. To achieve that end state, our project embraces three tightly linked objectives. First, we will complete a wall-to-wall geospatial census of every bicycle rack, pump, and repair station on the Purdue University campus by 30 April 2025, logging various measurements for each asset, which removes the blind spot and information gaps that have historically stalled funding decisions. Second, to gather experience insights, we launched an exploratory voluntary Qualtrics survey, which does not have an imposed quota since it is only used for gaining useful directional insights. Third, we met weekly with Sustainability Manager Patrick Brown’s team to share our evolving GIS map, refine the survey, and develop a simple checklist. By working together all semester, we made sure the Office of Sustainability can update and manage the data themselves, and future student teams can jump straight into more advanced analysis instead of starting from zero.
Community Project Partners
Patrick Brown, the sustainability manager, and Kuang Xin, a graduate student in the school of hospitality and tourism management.
Team Members
- Ryland Barton
- Elizabeth LeHanka
- Larry Lichtig
- Roman Zharovsky
- Derek Liu
Summary:
The GIS inventory map is completed but can be added on to if desired to expand the project. However, as construction finishes on campus or modifications are made to the existing bicycle infrastructure on campus, the inventory will need to be updated in order to remain accurate. In order to improve the inventory, skateboard racks and Veo stations can be added for a more complete understanding of the alternative transportation infrastructure on campus. Additionally, further research into the influence of time on the usage of bicycle racks could also be beneficial. Bicycle rack usage on the more academic side of campus compared to the more residential side of campus might be different on a weekend compared to a weekday or in the morning compared to the evening. Since we completed our inventory of each bicycle rack at only one time, it may not accurately reflect the maximum usage at different times. Other constraints included construction and weather. Construction on campus made some areas inaccessible. Therefore, bicycle racks in those areas were not included in our inventory. We also faced weather issues, which delayed when we were able to start adding the bicycle racks to the map.
The survey was created as a sample of questions for potential use on a future survey. This allows for feedback on the questions and to understand the typical responses to questions to better adjust the survey for more specific purposes. Future surveys that this information could be included on are surveys discussing more general transportation information to connect the two ideas or surveys looking to understand the behavior and satisfaction of more than just the bicycle infrastructure on campus. This means that the survey questions will be taken and used in a more comprehensive survey to be completely utilized. Some constraints we had with the survey were the response rate of the groups that we gave it to; specifically, the last open-ended question only got eight responses while the survey received 49 responses.
