Bike paths carry loads where 300lbs of bike and rider zip along on relatively narrow paths. The infrastructure is more akin to a wide sidewalk than a major road. In the spirit of fairness, I ask where is the pedestrian fee for those UK students whose inablity to hover daily does irreparable harm to the sidewalks?

Look UK, more bikes on your campus is good PR and less money you have to invest on car parking infrastructure, which is massively more expensive. 9 bikes will fit into the footprint of a Hummer H2. If you hit a threshhold where 20% of your campus bikes and “bicycle congestion” is a big problem, by all means levy a student fee and expand bike lanes. Your bikers like that biking to campus is hassle-free, and requires neither passes nor fees. You want more of them, not less.

That being said, I do think the fee is asinine!! No, $15 is not a lot of money but it makes no sense! Why would we need new bike racks? This seems another way to generate more money from students and staff. I pay for a parking permit to park my car in the over crowded garages on campus but when it is nice, I like to ride my bike as often as possible. I love to ride and be outdoors and get the exercise. So now you want me to pay for both? This does seem to discourage bike riding rather then encourage it. I wish more people would ride a bike. And I don’t believe for a minute the reasons UK Transportation gave for the new fee. And yes, this is not until March 2010 but as someone said, this gives the new incoming students and staff no say so. Why were we not given the chance to voice our opinions before this was set? Why doesn’t UK care more about their students and staff? It is all about the money! Thanks L. T.!!!

http://www.bicycleretailer.com/news/newsDetail/1878.html

http://www.commuteconnection.com/assets/pdf/Bicycle%20Commuter%20Federal%20Benefit.pdf

PLEASE do not delete this post as spam for the links, these two links alone should silence anyone who both goes to school and works. Everyone else will most likely have their parents pay for their bike parking pass along with everything else.

UK Parking is nothing but greedy and they don’t even pay for over half of the bike racks on campus. How about the ones outside dorms installed when the dorm was built and not paid for by UK parking. They are nothing but greedy people wasting paychecks that could be spent toward other things. (despite if they make more money in tickets a day than they are paid) It is in my opinion a waste of resources for progressing this university towards top 20. And there is no way they will not lose money monitoring bikes.

Email and call to voice these and other concerns to Todd, Kearns, your college and department heads, your advisors, city council members, and Mayor Newberry. Do we want to continue for Lexington and the university to remain unfriendly to responsible living? Lexington has a bronze rating for bicycling and is trying hard for a silver rating or higher. These kinds of policies are counter-productive to the work being done.

also, try lightening up a bit if you’re that concerned about the aesthetics of your bike(s) that you refuse to license them properly or adhere to university or local bicycle regulations. Only caring about your bar tape (and probably your matching deep V’s) does nothing to legitimate bicycling as a viable alternative form of transportation on this campus.

Although paying for a permit sounded absurd at first, I do like the legitimacy that this gives to a bicycle as a form of transportation. Thanks to James G. for pointing this out. Sometimes the line between “right” and “privilege” becomes blurred.

UK has made great strides in promoting bicycle usage over the past 5 years. I used to be confused by all the anti-bike signage on sidewalks, but many of those have now been properly designated as shared paths (as they were designated on the Campus Bicycle Map: http://maps.uky.edu/printablemaps/bicycle_24X36.pdf). I also appreciate the hard work by Shane Tedder to secure the resources for improving the Wildcat Wheels program.

When the dust settles, I hope the result is one fewer awkward stare from a motorist to a cyclist. When I ride up to a stoplight next to a car, we can both point to our parking permits and know we paid for the privilege to park on UK’s campus.

Also if I park rouge now I have to worry about someone scratching the paint on my bike or tearing the handlebar tape. Its not as if the patrol person is gonna know how to treat a bike is it.

Lastly I expect that very little of the revenues from this program will go back into caring for cyclist commuters. Just raise the tuition again, and again.

I should probably get a sticker for my Nike’s huh. You know to beat the 2015 shoe pass rush! (snicker snicker)

I already buy a parking permit but I think UK should increase the cost of using a car on campus. Let the less desirable mode of transportation pay for more bike racks, paths, and pedestrian friendly accommodations.

Make it easier to walk or ride a bike, or take a shuttle. More bikes on campus mean less traffic and congestion. More open parking spaces. Healthier people.

Parking at UK for one year already costs students and employees hundreds of thousands of dollars to support the vast UK parking empire. UK campus is in the grip of a parking administration that is more car centric than pedestrian focused.

Let’s hope that UK will choose to lead and create a healthier, more environmentally and energy aware campus and not institute this fee.

And not to mention the fact that people who are environmentally friendly generally voted for our current President, and if a $15 ‘tax’ to ride your bike for up to 4 years scares you, then what were you thinking this past November?

And if this means more/better bike racks, that’s fine. Remember that a K lot pass is like $250 not to mention getting there every day (gas, wear and tear, etc) so this $15 really is nothing.

I think the make enough money off parking tickets to install new UNNECESSARY bike racks!!!

Can you get any more GREEDY toward starving college students, you should be disgusted with yourself!

I’ve biked on/around campus for 6 years now, and it’s a relief to see cyclists are finally getting equal treatment with cars.

It’s $15 FOR LIFE and FREE UNTIL MARCH 2010! If you don’t wish to pay it, drive a car and spend $200+ a year to park half a mile away from campus.

If you’ve ever had a bike stolen, you’ll be thankful that this $15 sticker will get it back to you if it’s ever found.

Do yourself a favor and take a peek in the parking garage next to the downtown library and see what happens to UNREGISTERED bicycyles that are impounded, 90% of those bikes probably have owners that think their bike was stolen when in reality, the impounders have no way of tracking it back to the owner. The image of some fat cat laughing on his pile of impounded bikes is completely a myth, in fact it most likely COSTS money to have those bikes sit there for months on end.

Take a deep breath and read more than the headline. Nothing in life is free and college is the time when one should start to realize that fact. I’m sure it’s hard to see something positive when rules are placed on the freewheeling lifestyle a bicycle provides, but the benefits are there. Better racks, MORE racks, bike lanes, bicycle education, all of this and more is now feasible with some kind of income tied directly to cycling. Thank you UK!