Student cyclists can join a rewards program or make their bike easier to recover in case of theft at a pair of upcoming events on Oregon State University’s campus.
Attendees can join ZAP, the university’s biking rewards program, and Project 529, a national bike registration used by OSU’s Department of Public Safety. Events will be held outside Marketplace West Dining Center Friday from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and at the north entrance to Magruder Hall next Wednesday from noon to 1 p.m.
Sustainable Transportation Coordinator Elza Records of OSU Transportation Services and Public Safety Officer Nick Herman were on hand at the first registration event last Wednesday in front of McNary Dining Center.
According to Records, the upcoming events are the only ones planned, although there are usually more in the spring.
“Fall term is when we sign up the most people for ZAP, that’s when we have the most people that are new to the campus community,” Records said.
ZAP is a free program open to students and employees, according to the Transportation Services website. Those who register receive a tag attached to their bike’s front wheel, which allows the rider to be recorded when they pass an on-campus ZAP station. A map of station locations can be found here.
Signing up takes about five minutes, according to Records, and tags will be installed at the events.
Tags can also be installed at Dixon Recreation Center, the Transportation Services office in the Western Building or by Corvallis Bike Collective, according to the ZAP website.
According to the ZAP FAQ page, each pass a rider makes past a ZAP station will be recorded, The first daily pass is counted towards monthly prize drawings, for which riders are eligible after 10 days of passes.
Cyclists can also take part in competitions, such as the ongoing Fall Bike Challenge, which runs for the month of October, according to Records. The three teams with the most rides will win gift cards to Peak Sports.
“One thing that’s nice about ZAP is that it’s really inclusive,” Records said. “It’s not tallying how far you go or how fast you go, just that you rode to campus.”
Project 529 is a free service that makes it easier for police to return stolen bicycles, according to the Transportation Services website. Cyclists fill out a form with information about their bicycle and receive a tamper-resistant sticker with a unique ID.
According to Herman, the stickers can act as a visible deterrent, making a registered bike less likely to be stolen.
“When I started a couple years ago, you’d go around bike racks and you wouldn’t have quite as many stickers on the bikes,” said Herman. “Now, when you go around the bike racks, it’s a much higher percentage that you see the stickers on.”
Stickers will be available at the registration events, and can also be picked up from DPS at Cascade Hall.
Information about a user’s bike can be put into an Attempt to Locate report, which police departments can use to determine if a suspicious bicycle is stolen. Additionally, community members can look for bikes reported as stolen on the 529 Garage app.
“A lot of the time, the bikes that get stolen aren’t the ones that have the (sticker),” Herman said.
According to Herman, even if a potentially stolen bike is found, it cannot be returned unless the owner can prove they own it.
“It makes it a lot easier for you to actually say ‘Hey, this is my bike definitively, I registered it,’” Herman said.
