Camosun College plans on installing secure bike storage on the Lansdowne campus and bike tune-up stations on both campuses, but staff and students are frustrated with the current state of campus bike racks.
Camosun currently has a little over 200 rack spots at each campus. Some of the racks are underused, but some are overflowing, especially those between the Young and Ewing buildings on the Lansdowne campus.
“When the year started and it was sunny it was really hard to find a spot. They should probably give it a few more racks,” says upgrading student Marlow Hart. “If it were full, I’d have to lock my bike to a railing or a tree or something.”
Many students have been doing exactly that. Often a half-dozen bikes or more are locked to the railing along the Young building at Lansdowne, as well as various railings around campus.
Camosun installed new racks a year ago next to the Dawson and Ewing buildings, but they are barely used.
“Especially when the weather’s good, it’s impossible to find a place to park your bike,” says humanities instructor Larry Hannant. “There aren’t enough racks, and the racks themselves are pretty badly designed. Bike users don’t get the respect that the college says it’s paying to cyclists.”
Camosun currently has no plans to solve the rack problem, but they are in the process of developing bike tune-up stations similar to the “bike kitchen” at UVic for both campuses.
As well, Camosun is hoping to have secure bike storage at the Lansdowne campus early next semester.
“Hopefully, in the next three to four months there will be a secure bike storage area on the Lansdowne campus, which will hold about 19 bikes and will be the same [$5] monthly charge as at Interurban,” says manager of ancillary services Greg Simmonds.
The tune-up stations will consist of a pump and a variety of tools that people can use for free.
“Although they are trying to catch up to UVic, their speed is very slow,” says Richard Kao, CCSS sustainability director. “No matter how hard we promote biking, it comes down to whether the school can support it or not by putting the money into it.”
How about a negotiation with the city and the lot owner to have North Dairy Rd opened up to Camosun as a footbridge? We’ve all seen it…that big outcropping of rock formerly beside the bus stop on Richmond. As of currently that rock is shared between the North Dairy right of way behind it and, believe it or not, an actual residential lot. That lot has only recently been sold and a house built on the only little usable portion of the lot land (you can see on Google Streetview, as of this writing, when that house has not been built and was on the market) Although not a main corridor, Finlayson/North Dairy does have the most continuous and complete bike lane of perhaps all the major road in the Victoria area; and as it does not have exit to Richmond, that portion beyond Shelbourne is obviously a residential road. I’m not saying we put this as priority, but I do like to see some acknowledgement of whether this can be done and be considered in future planning if indeed is possible. I live around the Cedar Hill Golf Course and I am expecting that area to be gentrified in the next few decades and raise transportation concern there. Thanks.