The university will be removing abandoned bikes after 26 December

Starting in late November, university employees labelled dozens of bikes and mopeds on campus Woudestein. After 26 December, owners will have to pay a fine to get their tagged bike back. The university will donate bikes that are not collected to the Salvation Army.

On Monday there are 21 bikes with a green label parked among the other bikes in the bike racks in front of the Polak building. There’s a text on the label that says: “Oh gosh! This bike looks abandoned,” next to a QR code.

Clean-up campaign

In the week of 22 November, campus security officers labelled all abandoned bikes and mopeds on campus. There are still dozens in the racks. It’s not clear exactly how many there are. The university’s website states that the abandoned bikes will be removed to avoid “unsafe situations and nuisance”.

On 27 December, employees of a company hired by the university will cut open all the locks. They will then take all these bikes and mopeds to a storage site on campus. The owners have got until the end of January to fetch their bikes. The university will donate bikes that are not collected to the Salvation Army on 1 February.

Objections

If a bike has disappeared from the rack after 26 December, then the owner can lodge an objection with security. Security personnel will then return the bike to the owner, who must provide proof of purchase or registration and ID to prove that it is his or her property and pay a fine of 25 euros.