File:BikeWorks Report October 2011.doc: Difference between revisions

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+<pre>
+Edmonton Bicycle Commuters’ Society
+BikeWorks Coordinator October Report
+Alex Hindle
+BikeWorks Monthly Statistics
+# volunteer hours accrued: at least 196.50
+# volunteers who put in time at the shop:27
+# patrons (estimated by # of transactions):181
+# bikes sold: 15
+$ bikes sold: $1210.00
+$ parts sold: $1,462.11 (total), $825.61 New / $636.50 Used
+# workshops/courses for public: 2
+# workshops/courses for volunteers (including new volunteer orientations): 1
+# new volunteers: 3
+Bike Building Monthly Statistics
+# bikes built:13
+$ initial value of bikes built:$525
+$ added value to bikes built:$625
+$ total value of bikes built: $1150
+$ spent on bikes built (in parts): $250
+# volunteer hours spent building bikes:55.5
+# staff hours spent on bike building program:10.5
+$ cost of food for bike building: $100
+Please note, I was away between the 11th and 16th of October.
+General and Ongoing Activities
+Bike Building
+Recent attendance at Bike Building has been very high. Thanks to the offer of space in
+Adam Burgess’ and Kevin Schmidt’s garages, we should be able to realize the vision
+of building and storing nice finished bikes to sell in spring. We should be able to store
+at least 40 bikes between the two garages. A larger spring sale will be organized in
+March or April of 2012 that should be very profitable. Bike Building also continues to
+be an excellent introduction and learning tool for new volunteers and has seen around 10
+people attending over the last few weeks. Suggestions of a second bike building night
+have been made and will be considered pending attendance over the next month.
+Bike Rental Program
+Demand for the rental program has been waning as the weather turns and I anticipate
+very low usage over the winter months. We will retain 4 bikes at BikeWorks should
+there be demand during the winter and move the rest of the rentals into storage until the
+spring. Still working on updating the rental documents to make them more volunteer
+friendly. Will be building up a few extra bikes for the program to expand our selection
+for the next season. 2011 report still in the works but not quite done.
+Babac Order
+Placed a Babac order to hopefully bolster our dwindling chain supply amongst other
+things.
+Current & Upcoming Projects
+BikeWorks Improvements
+Malcolm Roberts and others have been working to make some further improvements
+to the BikeWorks space. Specifically, Malcolm and I are making room for more wheel
+storage above the west work benches. Malcolm is also creating a plan to build a hanging
+bike parking area attached to the fence that should improve the congestion caused by
+volunteers and patrons bringing their bikes inside. This project is in the planning stages
+at the moment but should be finished with the month of November.
+BikeWorks Volunteer Appreciation Party
+Currently looking into options for a volunteer appreciation even to be held in late
+November or early December. My initial plan for a pool party was thwarted by the
+Bonnie Doon Pool being booked solid for the next 6 months but I will find an alternative.
+An appreciation event is a good way to keep morale high during the winter and remind
+some of the less active volunteers about the fun times to be had at BikeWorks. Will aim
+to make it inclusive, not too expensive and fun. Suggestions welcomed.
+BikeWorks Patron Worksheets
+Worksheets for patrons to use to track their time and parts used are now available on
+the shop floor. As per the decision of the BikeWorks Committee, these sheets will at
+first be optional until we are able to gauge their usefulness. The benefits of the sheets,
+and similar systems such as attaching whiteboards to all repair stands (as has been much
+discussed) is that it will make it easier for patrons to accurately determine how much they
+owe EBC for their use of the shop and parts. For those patrons that are inclined to not
+pay for parts or time, the presence of the sheets may offer a mild disincentive towards
+this behaviour. However, the downsides to making this idea mandatory, I believe, are
+numerous:
+ª
+ª
+ª
+ª
+Enforcement will be difficult
+It further complicates the process of using BikeWorks
+Patrons inclined to steal can simply lie on the sheet
+Patrons with a close existing relationship with BikeWorks may be disinclined to
+use the sheets or not take them seriously
+ª There will be a lot of grey area over when to use the sheets and not; for example,
+should a patrons coming to just buy parts be required to use the sheet?
+ª Whiteboards attached to bike stands specifically would be difficult as they are
+hard to secure to bike stands, get in the way of those using the bike stands, and
+wouldn’t be useful for those performing repairs but not using a stand (say wheel
+truing). Pens and erasers would also go missing frequently and provide frustration
+to either the patron or volunteers.
+I am very hesitant to make any such policy mandatory as I think it’s of limited utility and
+will be difficult to implement. The BikeWorks Committee was not in favour of using
+whiteboards and preferred instead to try the optional sheet system and I think we should
+try this for a few months and see if it seems to work well before making a decision on
+whether or not some form of parts/time tracking should be mandatory.
+BikeWorks Volunteer Management Plan
+I am about halfway done creating a formal volunteer management plan for BikeWorks.
+The plan specifically addresses three challenges:
+. How can we encourage volunteers to be more involved in BikeWorks’ overall
+operations with increased self-direction and initiative?
+. How can we diversify our volunteer base?
+. How can we improve volunteer retention and satisfaction?
+These challenges are analyzed by looking at the current context, existing obstacles,
+strategies to meet the challenges and benchmarks for measuring success. Approximately
+to 15 more hours of work is needed to complete the plan. The plan will provide a lot
+of specific details about the culture of volunteering at BikeWorks and how it compares to
+other community bike workshops. Using data from the 2010 census of community bike
+shops we will be able to identify areas that BikeWorks is strong and weak and this should
+further help us address the above listed challenges. Implementation of the plan will begin
+immediately.
+Comments/Suggestion Box
+A comment and suggestion box with associated comment forms has been installed
+near the main door to BikeWorks. This will provide patrons another avenue to provide
+feedback to us. Patrons are informed on the comment form that they are also welcome to
+email or mail in comments, suggestions, concerns, etc.
+Delegation of Responsibility Amongst BikeWorks Volunteers
+Formal volunteer position descriptions for BikeWorks have been written and will be
+used in orientations as well as to provide prospective and existing volunteer a clearer
+understanding of the work they are expected to perform as a volunteer. Position
+descriptions were written so as to provide some challenge to volunteers and will be
+included in the aforementioned Volunteer Management Plan.
+Internet Issues
+The reliability of the internet had been very poor for a long time at BikeWorks. Upon
+Chris’ recommendation I bought a new router and Steve Andersen made it work. Now
+everything seems just fine.
+</pre>