May 2, 2016
Mopeds will not be ticketed when chained to bike racks
University officials are ensuring that mopeds/scooters chained to bike racks on campus are no longer ticketed by University Parking after a student brought the issue to the attention of President Mitch Daniels last week at the Hot Dogs with Top Dogs event.
Student Matthew Michie was ticketed twice for chaining his moped to a bike rack. He pointed out, however, that the policy on the website stated that students could use the racks for mopeds. He said that mopeds can be fairly light, making them susceptible to being stolen.
Both tickets were waived and Michie did not have to pay the fines.
Holly Buskirk, parking facilities manager, said that state law was changed in January 2015 to designate mopeds as a Class B motorcycle, which required them to be plated. That meant that under university policy, mopeds would have to be issued a parking pass and use regular or motorcycle parking spots. While the University had updated its policy to reflect the change, a recent update to the parking website accidentally replaced the new policy with the old one.
Now, after reviewing Michie's request, the old policy will remain in place, meaning mopeds won’t be issued citations for using campus bike racks, she said.
"It is great that an event like Hot Dogs with Top Dogs gave Mr. Michie the chance to voice his concerns to President Daniels," Buskirk said. "That direct route allowed the request to go right to the top and be addressed immediately."