UPenn recovers 1000 abandoned bikes annually

Hi Tom,
 
I thought the following may be of some interest to you in you Outreach initiative:
 
A few months ago I was reading an article in the Mainline Times about a group of students at the Haverford school who won an award of some kind for building a human-powered generator made using an old bicycle and other “recycled” components. One very interesting note in the story was that the students did some research on sources for used bicycles and found that UPenn recovers approximately 1,000 abandoned bicycles every year. The article did not give any further details, but I found this number to be incredible. Even if it’s off by a factor of 5 its still a large number of used bikes they have to dispose of each year. Not to mention that UPenn is only one of about 40 Universities and colleges in the Philadelphia area.
 
I hope this information is of some help.
 
Best Regards,

Bruce Richards