Letter to the Editor

Biking improvements are in the works

UCLA Transportation agrees with the personal, environmental and
societal reasons recently mentioned in the Daily Bruin to encourage
more people to get to campus by bicycle (“Break the cycle:
Ride your bike,” Oct. 13).

There have been a number of significant improvements on campus
over the last 18 months to support bicycle commuting.

Last year, UCLA’s first campus Bicycle Master Plan was
produced. Acting as a blueprint for bicycle planning and
accommodation at UCLA for years to come, it addresses
infrastructure, rider education and the marketing of bicycle
commuting to more students, staff and faculty. It also contains
input from a cross section of campus.

UCLA completes an annual bicycle-rack survey every April as a
means of evaluating the condition of campus bike racks ““
counting the number of bicycles parked at the racks and completing
an inventory of the campus bicycle parking.

This year’s survey indicates that the number of bicycles
parked on campus increased from 447 bicycles in April 2004 to 679
bicycles in April 2006, which represents a 52 percent increase.

Marina Oster wrote about her recent experience in Isla Vista,
observing the extensive number of students using bikes to get to
and get around UC Santa Barbara and the surrounding Isla Vista
community.

This can be attributed to several factors including flat roads
(for your information, “Hail to the Hills of Westwood”
is the UCLA song Bruins still sing today), less vehicular traffic
on the roads and fewer space constraints for building campus bike
paths due to UC Santa Barbara being more than twice the physical
size of UCLA ““ with fewer students, staff and faculty and
less built space.

Nonetheless, the commitment to increasing the number of campus
cyclists is ongoing.

For a more secure bike-parking option, UCLA Transportation
provides bicycle locker spaces across campus.

Through the UCLA Community Bike Center, a collaboration between
UCLA Transportation and UCLA Recreation, individuals can rent bikes
and tools or have trained staff fix their bicycles ““ any make
or model.

Bicycle riders may stop by to have their bikes inspected free of
charge. When it comes to transportation, we’re in it for the
long haul ““ and the short commute too.

Renée Fortier

Director of UCLA Transportation