What is #BikesForTransit?
This Bike Month, as we celebrate biking, we can’t help but feel a gap in our normal transportation routines. That’s why today we’re all about #BikesForTransit to show the bike community’s support and appreciation for buses, trains, and other public transit that link us, our bike trips, and so many of our neighbors to work, school, the store, and so much more.
It's been a whirlwind week of Bike Month and happy little reminders about how #BikesUnite. As always, I asked the League staff to be on the lookout for stories that inspired them, made them smile, or made them want to hop on a bike. As we head into the long weekend, it's our hope that the sun shines down on you this weekend as you get outside on one-to-three wheels.
We are experiencing a bike boom during this pandemic. The data and the news articles are undeniable evidence that people are biking more than before—but how do we make sure people love biking the same way we do?
Today would have been Bike to Work Day, which in typical years is celebrated on the third Friday of May. Because Bike to Work Day is so much about commuting to an office, gathering with other people, and generally being the opposite of socially distant, the League decided to postpone this year's Bike to Work Day and (hopefully) celebrate on September 22, 2020 (also Car-Free Day!)
Can something better than a plastic bollard be used to protect people on bikes in protected bike lanes?
It's the second Friday of Bike Month, and during this particularly cruel year, I find myself looking for ever more things to cheer. So it is that I'm dedicating Fridays in May to celebrating the happy Bike Month moments and in particular sharing some of my favorite #BikesUnite from Twitter and Instagram. Please keep the amazing, uplifting, inspiring, funny, bike-y, and just plain posts coming.
Today, a coalition of transportation groups sent a letter to congressional leadership outlining four recommendations for how the federal government can fast-track transit and active transportation projects amid the COVID-19 crisis devastating cities and people America.
With a focus on how Congress can empower cities to provide safe, equitable, and healthy transportation options during the pandemic and beyond, the recommendations call for:
At a typical National Bike Summit, we get to spend an evening together celebrating some of the remarkable people who keep our bike movement moving forward. These people and organizations take bold action, lead on equity and inclusivity, and inspire us to do better in our efforts to make biking better.
In 2020, we get to celebrate over four nights! Since we took our Summit online, we’re taking our awards online, too. And you’re invited! Learn more about our 2020 Advocacy and Education Award winners below and sign up to attend our awards ceremonies.
Between 2008 and 2018, pedestrian fatalities increased by 43 percent. Throughout the decade, numerous Department of Transportation officials over two administrations have touted pedestrian safety as a priority. While we have seen some effort by the Federal Highway Administration to study and address the problem, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the agency in charge of vehicle safety standards, has not.
For decades, educating people about biking has been a core element of the League’s work. This has primarily focused on teaching people how to bike more safely by imparting skills such as how to approach intersections, how to make quick stops, and how to make sure your bike is safe to ride.
Bicycling makes life better. It makes us healthier and it makes us happier, two things that are always good for us and that are even more important in 2020. That’s why the League of American Bicyclists is so very excited to celebrate National Bike Month in May.
Go for a solo ride. Take a photo. Share it with the world. Show how #BikesUnite.
Over the last month, we’ve seen car and truck traffic drop precipitously – often 30-60% or more according to Streetlight Data.
At the League, we are asking ourselves, what can we do to make it easier for people to walk and bike safely right now and to encourage people to continue bicycling once this crisis is over.
People who deliver meals, work in health care, work in grocery stores, and other essential workers are turning to biking for transportation. Advocates are making sure they can.
It’s the kind of unexpected message from a friend every bike advocate loves to get: where can I buy a bike? Thanks to the work of local advocacy organizations, bike shops can remain open as “essential businesses” in many places across the country. That’s critical for frontline healthcare providers, restaurant workers, grocery store employees and others who commute to work via bike--and it’s great news for the rest of us coping with the coronavirus pandemic with the physical and mental health benefits of biking.
This May, the League is still celebrating National Bike Month, because bicycling is more essential to our lives than ever—and because we could all use some bike joy to look forward to.
Since states and local jurisdictions began recommending or ordering non-essential businesses to close, there has been confusion in some places whether bike shops were officially "essential" businesses that could stay open. The League had been advising bike advocates that federal guidance which indicated "employees who repair and maintain vehicles, aircraft, rail equipment, marine vessels, and the equipment and infrastructure that enables operations that encompass movement of cargo and passengers" should cover bike shops.
As states and cities are considering which businesses are essential, most are finding – initially or eventually – that bicycling is essential.
With the continued spread of COVID-19, the need to build places that support everyone’s access to healthy, safe, activity-friendly ways to get to everyday destinations has come into sharp focus.
In this midst of this pandemic, cities and communities are seeing a surge in biking for transportation and for physical and mental health. We can act to ensure these are not momentary gains for safe streets and a healthier nation.
