By next spring, Student Senate could spend almost a quarter of a million dollars on bike parking and tracking under a budget passed and a bill introduced at Senate’s meeting Monday.

A draft Student Office of Sustainability budget, passed with little discussion and no opposition Monday, could deal about $130,00 in student fees next fall and spring semesters to covered bike parking, bike rack improvements and a cycle registration system.

That’s about 51 percent of $255,521 in student segregated fees SOS plans to spend next year.

SOS will spend another $94,525 on covered bike parking, new U-shaped bike racks and bike lockers this summer if Senate approves that plan next week.

“This is coming off the university being recognized as a … bike-friendly university,” Emy Marier, SOS director, said.

Senate also voted to support the final version of a bike and pedestrian plan introduced at Senate’s April 21 meeting. The university Master Planning Committee, which maps out UW-Eau Claire’s long-term goals, also signed off on the bike and pedestrian plan last week.

Money from the introduced bike parking bill and the passed SOS budget supports aspects of the campus bike and pedestrian plan, Marier said.

The bill

The bike bill pledges about $20,000 toward new U-racks at McIntrye Library, no more than  $20,000 for a “parachute” bike rack cover at the nursing building and about $45,000 for 37 bike lockers.

The university would charge about $20 for locker rental with another $25 deposit for a semester-long slot in weather-proof bike lockers. Campus Facilities Management will add bike parking under the parachute along with a nursing parking lot redesign, according to the bill.

Casandra Lee, a junior Eau Claire English major, looped a lock through the frame of her black Huffy and around a bike rack next to Centennial Hall before her shift at Einstein Bagels Wednesday.

“I feel like the covered bike parking spaces would be good because a lot of the bikes do tend to rust out when the snow’s around or when it’s spring,” Lee said as she wiped mid-afternoon mist off her thick-framed glasses.

She said she tries to bike in all four seasons when roads are slop-free. One percent of Eau Claire students marked biking as their primary means of transportation in bad weather, according to an SOS survey.

24 percent of 450 students surveyed said they would consider renting a bike locker. 41 percent answered maybe; 35 percent said they wouldn’t.

Budget

Next year each Eau Claire student will pay about $450 in segregated fees. SOS is granted $200,000 in seg fees each year, or about $20 a student.

Of the $130,000 SOS estimates it will spend on bike programs, the organization will set aside $80,000 for more covered bike parking across campus, $30,000 on more bike lockers and bike repair stations and $20,000 on ZAP, an electronic bike-tracking program.

$20,000 will pay for 250 spoke-mounted bike tags which ping off scanners placed at three entrances to campus. The scanners record how many times a student cycles to campus and passes out rewards like food coupons and bike helmets based on number of rides.

But the ZAP program would also act as a bike registration system. If a student abandons a bicycle, the university can use ZAP scanners to tell the student to move the bike.

Lee said it makes sense to contact a student who abandons a bicycle. The tags could help locate stolen bikes too, she said.

“We do have that rule here where if you leave your bike over an extended period of time it will get sold at the surplus store,” Lee said. “It’s better that people know what’s happening with their bikes and what their choices are to deal with that.”