The wheels of change are in motion at Iowa State — and those wheels just so happen to be on our bicycles.

According to the Department of Public Safety rules and regulations for the 1997-98 school year, bicycle riders on campus will no longer need a license from the City of Ames to ride on campus.

Free identification stickers, which will replace the city licenses that cost $2.50 per year, will be issued to riders by DPS officials .

The identification stickers are being created to deal with the problem of abandoned and illegally parked bicycles on university property, said DPS Program Coordinator Douglas Houghton.

“People have this idea that if their bike is not where they parked it, it’s stolen and gone forever,” Houghton said. “However, DPS often finds them illegally parked or abandoned, and this new identification sticker will help us put the owner back with their bicycle.”

Another change will be seen in the way bicycles are dealt with on handicap-access ramps, which received numerous complaints last year.

According to DPS regulations, bikes found on these ramps will be removed immediately and impounded.

Houghton said DPS ends up with around 200 bikes per year.

“This has become a real problem because we simply don’t have room for them all,” he said.

The third change for bike regulations is that DPS will grant authorization for people to take their bicycles inside university buildings.

The university is also planning three construction projects for bike riders this summer, Houghton said.

The first project, which has already been completed, was to build a bike trail just north of the Recreation Center.

The other two projects are to construct new bike racks similar to the ones east of Curtiss Hall. One will be next to Marston Hall, and the other will be just south of Lagomarcino Hall.