Joyce Childers, a program manager for the University of Arizona’s Parking and Transportation Department, has a message for UA students.

“Take your bicycles home with you,” Childers said. “We really don’t want these bikes.”

Signs like the one on the left have started appearing on bike racks near dorms all over campus.

The signs warn students that bikes left locked to the racks after May 19 will be considered abandoned unless prior arrangements have been made with the Parking and Transportation Department.

“If they call us ahead of time and tell us they are going to leave it there and tell where it is, we will not impound it,” Childers said. “We don’t get very many calls.”

Parking and Transportation workers will begin removing abandoned bikes after May 19.

“About 300 bikes a year are left abandoned on campus,” Childers said. “They take up space and they get stripped.”

Childers said if the bike is registered with the UA, they attempt to contact the owner before removing it.

According to Childers, once the bike is removed from the rack — the Parking and Transportation holds on to the bike for 45 days.

Parking and Transportation workers work year-round on identifying abandoned bikes in racks that aren’t associated with residence halls.

If a bike has not been claimed after 45 days, it is sent to the UA’s Surplus Department where it is auctioned off to the public.

Cecelia, a UA Surplus Department office manager who declined to give her last name, said Parking and Transportation sends them between 100 and 125 bikes three times a year.

The Surplus Department takes a portion of every sale, which Cecelia said is based on the value of the item. The rest is sent to the department who auctioned the item.

Childers said they don’t get much money from the sales of the bikes, but what little money they do receive is put into a general fund for bicycle-related expenditures.

Anyone can create an account on the UA Surplus Department’s website to view auction lots and bid on bicycles or anything else being auctioned.