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Entries tagged: Bike Advocacy

According to the League of American Bicyclists, “The 10th National Bike Summit ended last Thursday, March 11th, with a momentous Congressional Reception, inspiring bike advocates from around the country – and Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood – to bring the American bicycle movement to the next level! The 2010 Bike Summit was a paramount event for countless reasons but there are 10 clear highlights. Drum roll please…

10. Rewards for A Decade of Service – The Summit really wouldn’t be what it is today without the ongoing support of three people we recognized for their decade of commitment to the event: Congressmen Jim Oberstar (D-MN) and Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) have spoken at all ten Summits, offering words of wisdom and inspiration; always challenging us to aim higher. The third award was to Bikes Belong, the title sponsor of all ten – a serious financial commitment which they exceed every year by also drumming up attendees. Thank You! Just before the Summit kicked off, at the League’s annual meeting, we also recognized more than a decade of service by outgoing Chair of the League Board, Amanda Eichstaedt. She received the Paul Dudley White award for her contribution to bicycling over the years, including service on the League board and as Chair of the board for the past three years.

9. The League’s six asks for the Congressional Lobby Day were well received by our nation’s Senators and Congressmen.  H.R. 4722, the Active Community Transportation of Act of 2010, had nine additional bill co-sponsors as a result of our meetings on Capitol Hill.

8. Bike/Ped Eligibility for Transit Funds Increased – Speaking at the opening plenary of the Summit, Federal Transit Administrator Peter Rogoff confirmed that the eligibility of FTA funds for bicycling and walking projects has been extended. Following a Federal Register notice last year, FTA has agreed that bicycling projects that increase access and service to transit facilities are eligible for FTA funding provided they are within a three-mile radius of a transit station (one mile for walking). Eligibility doesn’t guarantee any more funding for bike/transit projects, but certainly removes a major hurdle that has prevented it in the past.

7. The Bikes Belong Coalition Political Action Committee (Bike PAC) – the bicycle industry’s bipartisan political action committee – had 10 members of Congress join the meeting!

6. Bikes Belong rolled out their new campaign People for Bikes – a brand-new initiative to put more people on bikes more often.

5. We had two members from Capitol Hill join us for the 10th Annual Congressional Bike Ride – Congressman Jack Kingston (R-GA) and Senator Merkley (D-OR)!

4. Representative Tom Petri (R-WI) pedaled a pedicab at the League’s National Bike Summit the afternoon of the Lobbying Day.

3. Google announced at the Opening Plenary Session at the National Bike Summit an addition to their suite of online directions -  Google Maps biking directions! “This new tool will open people’s eyes to the possibility and practicality of hopping on a bike and riding,” said Andy Clarke, President of the League of American Bicyclists.

2. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood energized and thanked the crowd at the League of American Bicyclists National Bike Summit on March 11, 2010 declaring, “You have a full partner in Ray LaHood.” On March 15, LaHood issued his new Policy Statement on Bicycle and Pedestrian Accommodation Regulations and Recommendations. LaHood then made the most substantial statement the DOT has ever made about bicycling and announced, a “sea change. People across America who value bicycling should have a voice when it comes to transportation planning. This is the end of favoring motorized transportation at the expense of non-motorized.”

And finally, the number one reason the 10th Annual Bike Summit Rocked…
1. More than 725 bicycle advocates, educators, enthusiasts, and industry leaders attended the 10th Annual National Bike Summit and had more than 425 scheduled meetings on Capitol Hill! That is approximately 600 more Bike Summit attendees than we had 10 years ago!

To recap, the National Bike Summit was a great success, and the League is confident in the progress we will make in the year to come in conjunction with the Bike Summit! The League thanks all of our sponsors, advocates, supporters and industry leaders who turned out in record numbers to support the cause we all know will make America a healthier, better place to live – bicycling”.

For more summit news and information visit http://www.bikeleague.org/conferences/summit10/index.php

In August of this year Portland, Oregon’s Bicycle Transportation Alliance (BTA) asked its members and the public for feedback to help them plan for bike advocacy and organizational growth in the future. Over 2,000 people responded to the survey providing the BTA with data on a wide range of advocacy and education topics, bicyclists’ perceptions, and organizational direction.

According to the BTA, some of the findings include:

• “As cycling experience levels increase, so do the number and percentage of trips that occur by bicycle. Those extra bike trips are mostly replacing car trips: automobile usage decreases significantly as bicycling experience increases, but public transit and walking trips remain relatively consistent.
• People who rate themselves “intermediate” or “advanced” cyclists are more likely to ride for commute purposes than beginner cyclists. Conversely, beginners report a higher ratio of recreational and utilitarian trips.
• Virtually everyone responded “bicycling in my community is safer for me personally than for my family.”
• Advocacy work at the local, regional and state levels is more important than national advocacy.”

The BTA survey was developed and analyzed with support from Inavero Institute for Service Research in Portland. For more information and to download the pdf with complete survey results, visit http://www.bta4bikes.org/btablog/2009/11/11/bta-survey-reveals-trends-perceptions-of-bicycling-around-oregon/.

On November 5, the Fairfax Advocates for Better Bicycling (FABB) (Fairfax County, VA) held a workshop in Sterling, VA to test materials they developed for a new engineering for advocates handbook.  According to FABB, “A small but interested audience showed up to learn how they could better comment to public officials on the design of bicycling facilities during the engineering process.  One of the things that we found was that there seemed to be demand from new advocates to learn about the very basic steps in accessing the process so we have gone back to add additional diagrams and explanations to the handbook to better address this need.”

The engineering for advocates handbook is a project funded by an Alliance for Biking & Walking Advocacy Advance Grant. For more information about this project, please visit http://www.fabb-bikes.org/index.html

http://www.fabb-bikes.org/resources.html

According to New York City’s Transportation Alternatives (T.A.), “The completion of Brooklyn’s new Sands Street protected bike lane makes getting on and off the Manhattan Bridge as easy as pedaling. It also closes a painful chapter in the history of New York City bike advocacy.” In 2005, Noah Budnick, T.A.‘s Senior Policy Advisor, was seriously injured when he hit a pothole while biking on Sands Street and crashed. After four years of hard work, T.A. celebrated the opening Sands Street Bike lane (aka “Budnick Bikeway”) on August 7th.

For more information on T.A., visit here…

The Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition (LACBC) and local residents successfully saved the Reseda Boulevard bike lane from being removed. About 60 people attended the August 11th Northridge West Neighborhood Council meeting to protest the proposal to remove the bike lane in order to install peak hour traffic lanes on Reseda Boulevard. Their voices, along with others who wrote letters to Councilmember Zine’s office and to West Valley DOT, resulted in the proposal being unanimously voted down. According the LACBC, “The implementation of peak hour lanes would make it impossible to install the already approved bike lane extension and would also have resulted in the partial removal of some of the existing lane.”

To read about the Los Angeles DOT’s reaction that they were never planning these peak hour lanes, click here…

Click here for more info on LACBC.