Bike parking shortage at Kenan-Flagler

Students who commute to South Campus on bicycles have been complaining about the lack of vacant bike spaces.

Sean McKelvey, a second-year MBA student at Kenan-Flagler Business School, is specifically concerned with the lack of bike racks.

“I have noticed this issue since my first year of business school,” McKelvey said.

“I bike to school every day. I usually lock my bicycle against the fence along the south lot behind the McColl Center. I think they can definitely benefit from adding another bike rack in the south lot. It basically affects all students who bike to the B-School.”

McKelvey said the problem hasn’t changed since the 2014-15 school year.

“It looks like they made an effort to expand the patio where the original bike rack is, but they haven’t added bike racks to the patio,” he said. “There are only 12 slots, so everyone else is left to their own devices, parking their bikes against a chain-link fence or a signpost or any pre-standing object they can find.”

Charlie Shiflett, an MBA student at Kenan-Flagler, said bike racks near the school are usually full.

“I have noticed this problem for about a year and a half,” he said. “I ride my bike to school. I typically lock it around a railing that is close to school. As I arrive to school, the bike racks are full.”

Shiflett said he has a received a variety of warnings.

“I have been ticketed for locking my bike on a railing close to school. It’s some form of a warning. I typically laugh at the warning and throw it away,” he said. “I come out to my bike, there’s a yellow slip of paper on it, and I throw it away.”

Isaiah Stackleather, a Kenan-Flagler student, said similar problems exist across campus.

“I ride my bike to campus every day. I always have a problem parking,” he said. “Usually when I’m on main campus around Lenoir, it’s always a pain to find open bike spaces that are conveniently located to where I need to be.”

Randy Young, spokesperson for the Department of Public Safety, said DPS has never issued a ticket for these bikes.

“We’re not ticketing anybody,” he said. “We have issued no tickets to bicyclists on southern campus who park by the business school. We have put out some warning placards.”

Young said DPS is working on solving the problem, and a new bike rack will be added soon.

“I’m not sure when it’s going to be in — it should be within the next month — but it should add at least 10 more spaces,” he said.

Young said alternative parking methods can present an environmental hazard.

“The warning placards are a reminder that the facilities used here on the campus does not allow anything to be affixed to the campus landscape because we want to be ecologically minded,” he said.

“The alternative parking methods cause damage to trees and landscaping, and we want to keep the air clean.”

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