A census of all bikes on campus will be conducted on April 23. 

Facilities and Services hopes 40 volunteers will count bikes on campus from 10-11 a.m. The census is a group effort between the University and Champaign County Bikes. 

“I hope we could be as accurate as possible. I think the peak number of bicycles is a really important number to have especially when it comes to having that infrastructure,” said Andy Kopp, bicycle planning intern. 

Volunteers count all unattended bicycles. The census provides the University with information necessary to making infrastructure changes such as the amount of bike parking.

Approximately 5,500 bikes were counted last year, Kopp said. 

“An interesting finding from the last census was that there were areas where there were plenty of racks, but there were still a ton of bikes that we counted that weren’t on racks,” Kopp said. “They were attached to fences, they were attached to trees, they were attached to signs.”

This could have been for multiple reasons, Kopp said. He said it could be that the bike racks aren’t adequate, people aren’t comfortable with the bike racks, or it could be the rack placement in relation to buildings and where people are entering. 

The number of bicycles can depend on the weather, Kopp said, which is why the group conducts the count in spring. Kopp hopes for nice weather this year and a successful count.

“Although the data is really good, I think another really good, important piece of it is that it’s just a really good outreach opportunity to get people involved in the biking community.”