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After a mandate from members and a decade of dedicated work, Bike Pittsburgh celebrated last week as the local Port Authority announced 100 percent of buses now have bike racks.

The story starts way back in 2002, when BikePGH was just getting its feet wet as an upstart advocacy organization. Already, the Port Authority and City of Pittsburgh had received a $75,000 grant for “Ride, Rack and Roll,” an initiative intended to outfit 75 buses with bike racks. But, a year after the program was established, only eight routes had racks — and often, even on those lines, buses would arrive sans rack. So BikePGH got to work.

“[From 2003 to 2006] stakeholders represented by Sustainable Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh’s Department of City Planning, the Port Authority and BikePGH met on and off to try to figure out the issues regarding the Rack ‘n Roll service,” Erok Boerer, BikePGH Advocacy Director, explained on the group’s blog last week. “It was clear the only answer was to get more racks into the entire system.”

In 2004, the program got an influx of money — $290,150 from the federal Transportation Enhancements program — to grow the program to 12 routes. But still, service was spotty and riders had little confidence that their bus would arrive with a rack. So it wasn’t surprising that BikePGH members considered the bus situation a major frustration. “At a BikePGH strategic planning session, members expressed that outfitting 100 percent of Port Authority buses with bike racks should be a high priority campaign that we should pursue,” Boerer explained.

So, in 2007, when the Port Authority announced it was buying new buses without racks the advocates pressed for a new policy that could solve the problem: No new buses should be purchased without a bike rack. The Port Authority agreed. By 2008, the landscape started to change as old buses were retired and, from the get-go, the new ones hit the streets with racks attached. To make sure the Port Authority had the cash to complete the task, BikePGH worked with local officials to get funding from another federal source — the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality program — and from a private foundation. By the end of 2009, they had secured the dollars to outfit the remaining 190 buses and the city promised to get it done by the end of 2011.

Finally, on Friday, the Port Authority and BikePGH had reason to party: All the city buses are now equipped with bike racks.

“This momentous development didn’t happen overnight,” Boerer wrote before the event. “It took a decade, with many different folks working to better the program. When it all came down to it, though, it was all about advocacy and leadership that made it happen.”

Read more on the BikePGH blog.

Blog contributed by Alliance intern, Camie Rodan

It’s no secret that Pittsburgh is transforming into a great place to be on a bicycle. At their annual membership meeting last week, Bike Pittsburgh (BikePGH) recognized 11 Pittsburgh-area companies that have aided in this transformation, presenting the organizations with inaugural Bike Friendly Employer (BFE) awards.

Backed by the Sprout Fund and the Benter Foundation, BikePGH established the BFE program with goals of facilitating the creation of bike-friendly workplaces, helping bike enthusiasts inform employers of the importance of installing bike amenities, and promoting Pittsburgh as a great place to bike commute.

The inaugural class of Bike Friendly Employers is a diverse group of organizations including: Sprout Fund, Mullen, Whole Foods Market, REI, Google, Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield, East End Food Co-op, Springboard Design, Urban Design Associates, Chatham University, and OTB Bicycle Cafe.

By participating in the program and rallying employees to support bicycling, each recognized company has lent a strong hand in helping transform Pittsburgh into a bike-friendly city. “A bike-friendly workplace not only serves in attracting talented employees, it also represents a key element in an organization’s sustainability practices,” Lou Fineberg, of BikePGH, says. “In a city still steeped in its smoky heritage by the outside world, bicycling represents a fundamental and highly visible shift of our city’s culture and livability.”

To nationally recognize the city’s shift in culture and livability and further advertise Pittsburgh as a bike-friendly locale, Bike Friendly Employers are urged to apply for national recognition as a “Bicycle Friendly Business” from the League of American Bicyclists.

To get a sense of the creative ways these employers supported biking in Pittsburgh, check out BikePGH’s blog.

It started in 2005 as a single patch of sod on a metered parking space in California.

That’s when the creative minds at Rebar, an art and design company in San Francisco, realized the absurdity that so much public space is gobbled up by the movement and storage of private vehicles. So they decided to put a single parking space to a different use, as a temporary park.

“Our original PARK stood for two hours — the term of the lease offered on the face of the parking meter,” the group explains on its website. “When the meter expired, we rolled up the sod, packed away the bench and the tree, and gave the block a good sweep, and left. A few weeks later, as a single iconic photo of the intervention (above) traveled across the web, Rebar began receiving requests to create the PARK(ing) project in other cities. Rather than replicate the same installation, we decided to promote it as an “open-source” project, and created a how-to manual to empower people to create their own parks without the active participation of Rebar. And thus ‘PARK(ing) Day’ was born.”

In just a few years, it’s taken off. Park(ing) Day has grown into a global event that challenges people to rethink the way roads are used and reinforces the need for broad-based changes to urban infrastructure. This year, on September 17th, plenty of Alliance organizations took part in the creative, temporary redesign of their communities’ streets.

In the Steel City, Bike Pittsburgh pimped out the pavement by creating an urban lounge, complete with wooden furniture and a fancy throw rug, where cyclists could kick back and hang out. BikePGH didn’t just have its own space, though. Some volunteers also offered a bike tour of the more than two dozens oases across the city. Check out pictures from the ride here.

Out west, in California, the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition got comfortable next to the curb, too. “Couches, tables and chairs, potted plants, hammocks, and sod adorned the streets of San José as places where people normally dump their abandoned cars were converted to places for people to meet and mingle. Some were lured by SVBC’s offer of a $100 Sports Basement gift certificate, though most probably wanted to see the city made a bit more welcoming to humans for a couple of hours.” More from the SVBC blog here.

And up in the Northeast, Boston’s Livable Streets saw the Park(ing) Day tradition expand into double-digit participation: “Boston saw its first spot in 2008. In 2009 there were five spots in Boston and Cambridge, and this year it was expanded to 10 spots across Boston, Brookline and Cambridge. It was a huge success, and there’s a lot of energy and enthusiasm to expand to more spots next year.” Get the full story in Livable Streets’ newsletter.

How did you spend your Park(ing) Day?

According to Bike Pittsburgh (Bike PGH), “Pittsburgh City Council unanimously passed the Bike Parking Ordinance this week.  The ordinance is an amendment to the zoning code that requires all new and “change-in-use” buildings to install bicycle parking, just like they already must do for cars.  There is also an incentive component to the ordinance, whereby a developer can replace up to 30% of their car parking requirement with bicycle parking. Basically, it makes sure that bikes are considered during the planning process, instead of trying to retrofit for them afterward.

Councilman Patrick Dowd connected the dots and discussed how this ordinance is just a piece of the broader concept of what ‘we really have to do’ to turn Pittsburgh into a bicycle-friendly city.  He cited the four-E’s commitment from the city: enforcement, education, economic incentives, and engineering.”

For over two years, BikePGH has been working on this measure, with the planning department and the mayor’s bike/ped coordinator, researching best practices from other cities, getting input from architects and developers in order to get this piece of code written, and encouraging cyclists and other members of the public to participate in the process. This is a big win for BikePGH and a milestone for bicycling in the city of Pittsburgh. 

To view the full ordinance and find out more about BikePGH click here.

After the city of Pittsburgh launched its new bike rack request program, BikePGH is welcoming hundreds of newly installed bike racks on Pittsburgh streets. 

Upon announcing the program in October of 2009, Bike PGH secured funding for 100 racks, which were all donated to the city, and further matched with another 100 racks through the Mayor’s Taking Care of Business Districts program. With 200 racks available, the city has been taking online requests for the new racks’ designated locations throughout Pittsburgh. Most of the 200 racks are now populating the city’s streets, yet there are still many locations in need of bike parking facilities. The success of the online requests has been so overwhelming that BikePGH is actively looking at options to expand the program and continue their mission of making Pittsburgh a safer and more enjoyable place to live and ride.

To find out more about the bike rack program visit http://www.bikepgh.org. “> http://www.bikepgh.org.

PITTSBURGH – The bike advocacy group BikePGH just released Bike Commuting 101 to share with commuters the basics of bike commuting. The booklet explores topics like choosing a bike, how it should fit, riding safe, useful accessories, and general information that enhances the bike commuting experience. Culling the combined input of BikePGH’s staff and long time members the guide focuses on the essential elements of bike commuting using the themes of convenience, comfort and safety. Illustrated by local artist Glen Johnson the guide not only provides practical advice, but it also presents the city in a fun graphic style.

“Bike commuting is not and all-or-nothing choice” says Program Manager Louis Fineberg. “You can ease into it. Try it once a month, maybe eventually once a week. More than likely once you start you’ll realize the benefits immediately and you’ll want to bike to work regularly.”

Since it’s start in 2003 BikePGH has hosted bike commuting workshops.  The guide compliments the workshop or stands on its own as an informative reference for all levels of riders.

Bike Commuting 101, Car Free Fridays, and similar initiatives are part of BikePGH’s efforts to engage local employers in supporting workers who want to bike to their jobs. “A work environment that welcomes bike commuters sends a strong message about the values of your workplace and reinforces the idea that Pittsburgh is a city that provides a high quality of life”, adds Fineberg. “Biking to work is different than driving and it requires some planning.” BikePGH is developing a Bike Friendly Employer program to assist employers in meeting this growing need.

This first edition of the guide is free and available through BikePGH, the city’s Bike/Ped Coordinator, the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership, the Sprout Fund, and bike shops throughout Pittsburgh. Download or view the guide at http://www.bike-pgh.org/101. The guide’s official release will be during BikePGH’s annual member meeting on November 10th at the Union Project.

The City of Pittsburgh installed the first of 200 new bike racks in front of Enrico’s Biscotti Co in the Strip District this morning.  The racks, in the iconic Three Rivers Bike rack design, are to go to business districts and small businesses as part of the Mayor’s Taking Care of Business Districts program.  BikePGH donated one hundred of the racks to the city (for small businesses, made possible through the Richard King Mellon Foundation and William Benter Foundation), while the City matched them with another 100 that will go into business districts.

The event drew an impressive crowd of cyclists, media and movers and shakers who were greeted with delicious baked goods from Enrico’s.  Mayor Luke Ravenstahl introduced the program, followed by speeches from BikePGH’s Scott Bricker, State Senator Jim Ferlo, State Senator Wayne Fontana, and Councilman Patrick Dowd.

The next step is placing the racks around town.  Many businesses throughout the city have already requested racks, and will get first dibs.  The rest of the racks will be distributed using a new online request form.  Once a business requests a rack, the location will be assessed to make sure it complies with ADA and other right-of-way standards.  If the site is in compliance, public works will then install a rack.  As they are in the public right-of-way, the City assumes liability on the racks thereafter.

For more information, visit http://bike-pgh.org/2009/10/city-launches-bike-rack-program-rack-request-form-now-live/

According to Bike Pittsburgh, their 2009 Bike Fest had 50+ events on the calendar attracting people from far and wide. The fundraiser party was packed with over 500 attendees raising nearly $14,000 for bicycle advocacy. The group parked over 200 bikes, raffled off a Cannondale Quick 4, and even offered great dance floor shots.

Visit http://bike-pgh.org/events/bikefest/ for more info and to see pictures from the event.