The Bike Share stations on campus will be shut down now through March 1 due to winter weather conditions and improvements to the system.

According to Parry Burnap, executive director of Denver Bike Sharing, this was a difficult decision due to the service’s commitment to asking people to commute in an environment-friendly manner.

“We decided to pulled them in for two categories of reasons,” said Burnap in an interview with Colorado Public Radio. “There are winter and operational questions about damage to the bikes and the safety of the users, such as riding through snow and salt on the ground. We also felt that the usage would be very low and it would not pay for itself.”

While these were all considerations for the winter closure, Burnap includes technological improvements as a key goal for the re-opening in March.

“We are looking at the touch screen, which was deficient this past season, as well as the intelligence of the kiosks,” said Burnap.

According to Burnap, the closure will be used to evaluate the past year that the Bike Share program has been available in hopes of having the ability to remain open year-round in the future.