For the second consecutive year, the “Bike to the Ballpark” program will be made available throughout the 2012 NCAA Men’s College World Series.

During the 2011 CWS, more than 700 people took advantage of the first “Bike to the Ballpark” program made possible by the not-for-profit Omaha Bikes. Foregoing the hassle and expense of driving to CWS games, these fans rode their bicycles to TD Ameritrade Park Omaha.

“We've expanded the size of our bike corral for 2012 based on the response we received last year from people who saw our bicycle parking area and told us, ‘Wow! We’re going to bring our bikes next year,’" said Julie Harris of Activate Omaha.

The program is simple, according to Harris. “It works exactly like valet parking for a car,” she explained. “We take your bike and give you a claim ticket. You bring the ticket back after the game and we get your bike for you.”

The bike corral will be in operation during Opening Ceremonies on Thursday, June 14, from 6 p.m. until 30 minutes after the fireworks. It will also operate throughout the Series, starting an hour before the first game until 30 minutes after the final out of the last game of the day. This year the bike corral will be on Mike Fahey Street from 13th to 14th streets in the parking stalls on the north side of the street. The corral will remain in place between games, but riders should be aware that bikes parked without volunteers present are left at their own risk.

“Bike to the Ballpark is made possible by a great group of volunteers that help to make it happen,” Harris noted. “The City of Omaha has granted permission to use the parking spaces. In addition, Activate Omaha collaborated with Metro Transit to create a map showing all of the multimodal ways to get to the stadium.” That map, which can be found at http://ometro.com/bus-system-page/stadium-service-2012, includes the Stadium Circulator bus routes, the location of the bike corral, as well as all of the permanent bike racks that are installed in the downtown and North Downtown areas.

Activate Omaha and Omaha Bikes also will be working with the downtown hotels to provide information on what they can do to be bike friendly to their guests who bring bikes with them.

Harris shared another reason to Bike to the Ballpark. “It’s FREE,” she added. “And any proceeds we do receive will go back to Omaha Bikes.”