Bike registration to be required at Texas A&M

KBTX

By Blakeley Galbraith

Published Sep 15, 2017

COLLEGE STATION, Tex. (KBTX) – Starting Nov. 1, bicyclists on the Texas A&M campus will be required to register their bikes with the university – and after the Nov. 1 deadline, the registration costs will increase.

Some students say they are happy a registration will be implemented since they have trouble finding bike parking.

"Every time I ride my bike up here I always have to walk around," said Josh Kelsey. " I see a lot of bikes that are broken down and haven't been used in a while — so it's very hard to find a spot."

That's one of the problems Texas A&M's Transportation Services Department is trying to fix by requiring bicycle registration.

"What we will be doing is looking at the bike racks throughout campus, checking for those individuals who are repeatedly coming on campus and parking — but have not registered their bike yet," said Melissa Maraj, Texas A&M's Transportation Services communications manager.

Transportation Services says this is the best way to make sure there are spots for active cyclists and stay connected with them too.

"We can reach out to our biking community in the event that a bike is stolen, bikes are left, we can reach out to them and communicate with them," said Maraj.

Right now, only A&M students, faculty, and staff can register. That has Blinn student and veteran Derek Teuscher worried. He rides to A&M's campus regularly.

"I wouldn't say it's concerning, but a little bit of a question to whether or not if I go and ride my bike, cause I ride my bike everywhere, whether or not it would be impounded or possibly moved," said Teuscher.

Transportation officials say, impounding bikes like Teuscher's is not the goal.

"Transportation Services will be working really hard to not do a wide sweep impound," explained Maraj.

They are only plans to impound in case of an emergency or if you break bike-parking rules.

"We just encourage them to park legally, but our objective is mostly to not interrupt our visitors."

While the registration will cost $10 come November – the money will be going back into the transportation system. Half of the fee will go towards processing the permit. The other will go towards programs.

“We have a lot of programs under Sustainable Transportation that will benefit from the additional revenue from the other half of the charge for the fee but overall it’s to support the biking program," said Maraj.

Some of those programs include installing new bike lanes, racks, and fix-it stations.

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