CSA Bike Centre to begin reopening measures this summer

Four phase plan would include the introduction of limited bike service appointments

After being closed for over a year, the Central Student Association’s (CSA) Bike Centre is set to reopen in phases.

According to the Bike Centre Reopening Plan written by the Bike Centre Reopening Working Group, health and safety measures will be taken throughout summer 2021, progressing through four overlapping phases.

The plan was brought to the CSA’s May 21, 2021 board meeting where it was endorsed by the CSA Board of Directors and approved on the 26th.

The centre has been closed since March 2020, and students and community members have been advocating for its reopening for months, missing its crucial services during the COVID-19 pandemic. For some bike centre volunteers, bikes were their main method of transportation and without the centre’s services, they were unable to maintain them.

After concerns were raised to the CSA in April, a Working Group of bike centre volunteers and CSA members was formed to put together a plan to reopen the centre. According to Working Group member Giancarlo Martini, there are currently no set dates or time estimates of when each phase is to be completed.

“It is at the complete discretion of the CSA when a phase is finished,” Martini told The Ontarion.

The plan states that the CSA will be tracking the centre’s reopening progress in an ongoing manner throughout each phase.

Phase one of the plan involves contracting two workers and cleaning the bike centre. The workers will be paid via funds from the CSA’s Administration Temporary Help budget and will complete phase one and phase two.

Cleaning will be done to the centre’s COVID-19 Operating Manual standards, updated in May by Martini and another group member to reflect enhanced cleaning protocols, including sanitizing tools and workstations, periodically cleaning high-touch areas, and replenishing soap and hand sanitizer each day in accordance with the University of Guelph’s COVID-19 protocol.

Phase two will see the creation of two identical workstations and the reorganization and upgrading of the centre’s work area, including installing acrylic dividers and tool boards, ordering new tools and supplies, delineating workspace barriers and walkways, creating a barrier between the office and repair workspace, and preparing cleaning and sanitizing stations. In this phase, compliance with all health and safety requirements will precede the submission and approval of a Return to Campus application.

Phase three would see the reintroduction of students to the centre. Initially, signage would be created indicating user rules. Once set up, centre appointments would be made available for students to book online. Appointments will run for 45 minutes, two per hour, with one user per station. 15 minutes will be allocated before appointments to sanitize the station.

In phase four, a bike centre coordinator and two repair coordinators would be hired. The timeline on hiring is flexible — according to the plan the hiring process would begin as soon as the centre is ready to take on new employees.

As per the bike centre website, all those with inquiries regarding the centre are encouraged to contact csavpexternal@uoguelph.ca.

This is a developing story; more information to follow.   

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