In what was one of the most congenial nomination hearings this year, Foxx joked with Senators, promised to work with the legislators and to be as transparent as possible. It was so congenial that more than half of the Senators on the committee didn’t even take the opportunity to publicly ask him questions, including Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.). (Foxx had met with all the Senators, including Boxer, privately.)

In his opening statement, and throughout the hearing, Foxx stressed the role of transportation as a catalyst for economic development. He said his priorities as Secretary would be making the U.S. transportation system the safest in the world; making the department more effective and efficient; and ensuring the U.S. build a transportation system to meet the needs of the next generation. While he never mentioned bicycling specifically, he continually mentioned the need to build multi-modal projects — and praised TIGER as a step in the right direction. He also indicated he would follow in the footsteps of Secretary Ray LaHood when it came to focusing on distracted driving, saying it was now “baked in” to how the DOT does business.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) asked about his support for the Recreational Trails Program to which Foxx answered that he “looked forward to talking more” with Senator Klobuchar about it. This was Foxx’s m.o. towards many questions he chose not to answer directly.

The hearing was marked more by what wasn’t said as what was — the solvency of the Highway Trust Fund. Foxx got a few questions about how he would implement sequester with little pain, and was urged to cut waste and unnecessary regulations. But no one asked about whether he would raise the gas tax, or support a Vehicle Miles Traveled fee. Sen. Mark Begich (D-Ark.) was not there to ask about VMT. Begich said he would oppose any nominee that supported it.

Foxx was clear that he wanted to run an efficient department and avoid pain as much as possible, but also noted that, given the financial limitations, he wasn’t sure avoiding painful cuts was possible. Foxx indicated interest in tolling, infrastructure banks and public-private partnerships but that none of these were a magic bullet.

The only tense moment came at the end of the hearing, when Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) seemingly couldn’t hold back his frustration. He admonished Congress for not being willing to take up the hard issue of funding transportation. Saying that members were too afraid of contested primaries to make the tough choices that were right for the country. He expressed frustration with the idea that just being efficient would help avoid the pain of sequester. Without addition funding, he said, the country can’t avoid the pain of budget cuts

Rockefeller also warned Foxx, saying that for the nominee to succeed he’d have to tell the tough truths to Congress and couldn’t always be as agreeable as he was in the hearing. He suggested Foxx learn from LaHood. “Your predecessor would come up here and speak his mind — and he managed to get away with it.”

(Photo Credit: Weldon Weaver.)

Caron Whitaker
Vice President of Government Relations

Prior to joining the League of American Bicyclists in 2012, Ms. Whitaker served as the Campaign Director for America Bikes where she coordinated and implemented America Bikes federal policy agenda. Before that, she worked for the National Wildlife Federation on smart growth, international policy, and community engagement. In addition, Caron served as a Community Land Use Planner for the State of North Carolina Division of Coastal Management, providing technical assistance to local governments and staffing a stakeholders’ council responsible for revising state planning regulations. She has a Masters in Environmental Management for Duke University, Nicolas School of the Environment and a Bachelors of Arts from Williams College.

At Quality Bicycle Products, we pride ourselves on being a company made up of committed cyclists.

As the largest supplier of bike parts in the United States, with more than 650 employees, it’s important that we know our product in and out through constant testing. We have everything from recreational cyclists who ride around the block with their kids to hardcore snow racers who ride hundreds of miles in the frigid forests of upper Minnesota. But, as a company, we put in the most mileage simply biking to work and back.

With three distribution centers in three different states, it is no easy task to get employees to bike to work, especially considering the distances a great deal of employees live from QBP. But by adding bike infrastructure, encouraging ridership through financial incentives and competition, and cultivating bike culture, we’ve successfully created one of the best corporate commuting programs in the U.S.

In fact, on a good day, more than 30 percent of our employees will bike to work, with more than 370,000 miles biked in 2012. That’s 10 times the average ridership rate for Minneapolis commuters.

We’ve increased our ridership through hiring a part time Commuter Advocate, and by providing dedicated lockers, showers, indoor bike parking, and an employee bike shop. Additionally, we host bike mechanic classes, provide breakfast on our monthly bike to work day, and give QBPers $3 in QBP credit every day they bike in. In order to keep track of these incentives, we created the website www.greenlightride.com. The employee simply has to log in and add their mileage everyday they bike to work. An added bonus to using GreenlightRide.com is that it encourages even more biking through inter-work competition.

For years these actions have increased ridership and cultivated culture. What we didn’t expect were the financial savings we would experience as a company and individuals through reduced health insurance claims. Last year HealthPartners, our health insurance carrier, ran the numbers for us and using the top 100 commuters that bike over 10 miles per week as a sample, they made an amazing discovery.

The $45,000 we dedicate to our commuting program annually realizes a huge economic return for QBP and its employees. Between 2009-2011 average national corporate per member per month (PMPM) health care costs had risen nearly 25 percent, while QBP PMPM had actually decreased 4.4 percent!

QBP saved so much money that we gave every employee more than $100 back at the beginning of the next year. That has to be a first. These top 100 bicycle commuters have incurred an estimated annual savings of $200,000, experiencing one-third of the claims related costs of non-bicycle commuters. Overall, the study finds that a $45,000 investment in employee health and wellbeing generates more than $670,000 in economic return.

We hope that the HealthPartners/QBP study becomes an inspiration to companies everywhere to start their own commuter programs. Additionally, this is proof that spending money on bike projects not just as a company but as a city, state, and nation can have very real and positive results when it comes to fighting ever-increasing health care costs and childhood obesity.

With studies like this and increasing attention paid to mixed modal transit we can start to change the way that America looks at the bicycle. No longer is it merely a toy for kids, but one of the most powerful tools to achieve a healthier and more sustainable country.

Pat Brown was just hoping to hang on in a tough economy. When she relocated her art gallery in 2008, it was the rock-bottom rent that drew her to a still struggling strip of downtown Memphis, TN. “We were just trying to survive,” she said.

Brown (pictured right) was betting on a small core of community members determined to transform Broad Avenue from a fast-moving thoroughfare, where traffic whizzed past boarded-up storefronts at 50 mph (80 km/h), into a bustling arts district. Little did she know that they would hit the jackpot with bicycling.

Shortly after Brown opened T Clifton Gallery, Sarah Newstok walked in. The local nonprofit Newstok led, Livable Memphis, had a vision for Broad Avenue, too. They wanted to build a protected bike lane that would pass right by Brown’s door, creating a vital connection between a popular multi-use trail and the city’s largest park. “We’re a retail business, so any time there’s a concept to bring additional traffic directly by your storefront, it’s very easy to say ‘yes,’” Brown recalled with a laugh.

In 2010, after garnering support from city officials and surrounding businesses, Livable Memphis and the Broad Avenue Arts District rolled out the idea in a dramatic way. They painted temporary bike lanes and crosswalks and invited the community to “A New Face for an Old Broad,” a celebration, complete with live music, street vendors and a kids’ bike parade down the freshly striped cycle track (photo below).

“Until then, the area had been doing art walks once a year and, at best, those were bringing in 1,000 people,” Brown said. “Our goal for this day-and-a-half event, where the street itself would be a sort of theatrical performance, was maybe 5,000 people. We had 15,000 show up. The energy level was incredible. It was a huge tipping point for us – it changed the trajectory of the revitalization efforts.”

The energy didn’t wane once the event was over and bicyclists started taking advantage of the temporary lanes. Since then, the promise of permanent facilities has drawn more than $6 million in private investment. More than 15 new businesses have opened and nearly 30 properties have been renovated. Traffic has slowed, new customers are arriving on two wheels and, suddenly the rock-bottom neighborhood is one of the hottest spots in town.

Memphis isn’t the only city where bicycling is bringing business. Increasingly leaders in the public and private sector are realizing that being bike-friendly makes good business sense, boosting the bottom line and promoting community-wide economic development. Bicycling in the United States is a $6 billion national industry and one study estimates that the spillover effects of recreational bicycling alone could be as large as $133 billion. But that’s just the beginning, barely scratching the surface of the economic impact of transportation bicycling in communities across North America…

Read the full story here!

Carolyn Szczepanski
Communications Director

Carolyn joined the League in March 2012, after two years at the Alliance for Biking & Walking. In addition to managing the League's blog, magazine and other communications, Carolyn organized the first National Women's Bicycling Summit and launched the League's newest program: Women Bike. Before she crossed over to advocacy, she was a professional journalist for nearly 10 years.

We know new ideas and initiatives are breaking ground across the country — and we want to make sure the best efforts take root and serve as examples for the rest of the nation. These grants aim to provide best practices on women’s bicycling outreach and engagement, so, instead of reinventing the wheel, advocates are able to quickly and effectively accelerate the energy around women’s bicycling in their communities with proven strategies and key resources.

In this call for proposals, we received more than 60 applications for funding — and we were absolutely in awe of the amazing amount and diversity of work around women and bicycling. The decisions were tough but the recipient organizations and projects in this round of Women Bike mini-grants include:

WE Bike NYC
Engaging Latina Women Through Bilingual Outreach and Resources
$2,000
Breaking down barriers for women cyclists, WE Bike NYC realizes the importance of creating a space where new riders feel welcome and understood. “Engaging Latina women is done by creating accessible resources where these women can literally and figuratively see themselves — or people who look like them,” says Liz Jose, a bilingual organizer and founder of the group. “Our goal with this grant is to create outreach and educational materials in print and online that encourage Latina women to join the bicycle movement. By compiling existing Spanish language resources as well as creating new, downloadable documents, the work created under this grant will create a model for language inclusiveness for groups across the country, as well as materials such as a Spanish-language ‘Fix-A-Flat’ book featuring Latina women and a Spanish-language ‘Club Pack’ that can be used to begin work in local communities.” Learn more about WE Bike NYC.

Women Bike PHL (Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia)
Girl Scouts on Wheels
$1,500
The Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia’s Women Bike PHL campaign is working to get more women and girls on bikes in Philadelphia. Their innovative “Girl Scouts on Wheels” project is developing and promoting a Biking Basics patch, as well as offering Bike Rodeos and Learn-to-Ride classes to Girl Scout troops. “I was a Girl Scout for 10 years, and know from experience what a positive impact that organization has on youth,” says Katie Monroe, Women Bike PHL coordinator. “If we’re serious about getting more women riding, we need to start young — and Girl Scouts seems like the perfect platform for educating and inspiring girls to get pedaling. It’s also a powerful national network, so ideally this partnership between bike advocates and Girl Scouts could be replicated around the country.” Learn more about Women Bike PHL.

We Are All Mechanics
Scholarship Program
$1,500
A women-owned and operated initiative since 2003, We are All Mechanics has been teaching bicycle maintenance courses to women in the Madison-area community for 10 years. The grant from the League will enable us to offer scholarships to women who would otherwise not be able to participate in our Basic Bicycle Maintenance Course,” says Ali Dwyer, a co-founder of WAAM. “Participants in our Basic Course report that they are excited to share what they know with others, and they report riding more often, for more reasons, and with more confidence after taking our course.Our successful program, and our original materials will serve as a model for other programs and bicycle educators.” Learn more about We Are All Mechanics.

Marin County Bicycle Coalition
Women on Wheels in Spanish
$2,500 (Special Smart Cycling grant)
Marin County Bicycle Coalition’s Women on Wheels was developed in 2011 to provide classes for women to ride together and provide other shared information. “The classes are designed to help women gain the confidence and skills they need to ride a bicycle for errands, to get their children to school or for recreation,” says MCBC’s Wendi Kallins. “With this grant, we’ll be able to offer these classes in the low income, predominantly Hispanic neighborhood of the Canal area of San Rafael – and make the curriculum for Spanish-speaking women available to other communities around the country.” Learn more about Women On Wheels.

Learn more about Women Bike at bikeleague.org/womenbike 

Carolyn Szczepanski
Communications Director

Carolyn joined the League in March 2012, after two years at the Alliance for Biking & Walking. In addition to managing the League's blog, magazine and other communications, Carolyn organized the first National Women's Bicycling Summit and launched the League's newest program: Women Bike. Before she crossed over to advocacy, she was a professional journalist for nearly 10 years.

The League issued a statement when he was nominated, and we look forward to hearing Mayor Foxx answer questions about his vision for transportation over the next four years. When it comes to surface transportation, we believe the Mayor has an important story to tell about how innovative transportation choices like light rail, street cars and bike share helped bring 13,000 new jobs to Charlotte, N.C.

The League was among the more than two dozen organizations that signed-on to a letter from the Transportation for America Equity Caucus to the Senate committee attesting: “We believe that Foxx’s background prepares him well to advance an agenda at the US Department of Transportation that affords all Americans the opportunity to participate and prosper.”

This hearing is also an opportunity to hear from the Senators — 13 Democrats and 11 Republicans, almost a quarter of the Senate, and five first time Senators — about what they believe are the most important transportation issues of the day.

It’s a fair bet that funding for transportation — including the Highway Trust Fund — will be a main focus of the discussion. In addition to that, I’ll be interested in hearing what Foxx, and the Senators, are thinking about in terms of our goals for the next transportation bill.

• How can we move towards zero deaths on our highways?
• If cities are the economic engines of the nation, what should the role of local decision making in transportation be? How can transportation policy address local economic development, health and quality of life issues?
• In his State of the Union Speech, President Obama announced a “fix it first” policy for transportation; what will that look like, and how will a complete streets approach be incorporated?

We’ll be watching the confirmation hearing, and listening for answers to these questions and others. Let us know what you’re listening for…

Caron Whitaker
Vice President of Government Relations

Prior to joining the League of American Bicyclists in 2012, Ms. Whitaker served as the Campaign Director for America Bikes where she coordinated and implemented America Bikes federal policy agenda. Before that, she worked for the National Wildlife Federation on smart growth, international policy, and community engagement. In addition, Caron served as a Community Land Use Planner for the State of North Carolina Division of Coastal Management, providing technical assistance to local governments and staffing a stakeholders’ council responsible for revising state planning regulations. She has a Masters in Environmental Management for Duke University, Nicolas School of the Environment and a Bachelors of Arts from Williams College.

Moderated by Susi Wunsch, the founder of Velojoy and member of the Women Bike Advisory Board, the session crystallized some of the key hurdles and opportunities to get more women riding.

“In New York City, trips by male bicycle commuters outnumber those by women by 3-1,” Wunsch said in her opening, “but there’s real change on the horizon.”

The discussion provided an engaging glimpse of that promising future, capturing diverse experiences and perspectives on how to get more women riding, including (in the recap video above):

• The story behind how and why Julie Hirschfeld opened Adeline Adeline, a women-friendly bike shop specifically oriented to commuter biking
• Insight from Caroline Samponaro, director of campaigns and organizing at Transportation Alternatives, on the four ways to get more people on bikes — and how she took action to identify where women ride in greater numbers in NYC
• Thoughts from Dani Simons, marketing director for the new Citi Bike, on what makes bike share systems particularly compelling to women

The panel also addressed head-on the most multi-faceted question of all: What are the best ways to attract more women to cycling (video above).

Share the videos above and subscribe to a wealth of great content around women and cycling at www.velojoy.com.

Carolyn Szczepanski
Communications Director

Carolyn joined the League in March 2012, after two years at the Alliance for Biking & Walking. In addition to managing the League's blog, magazine and other communications, Carolyn organized the first National Women's Bicycling Summit and launched the League's newest program: Women Bike. Before she crossed over to advocacy, she was a professional journalist for nearly 10 years.

Jason Roberts fully expected to get arrested. “We decided we would break every law that we possibly could,” the Dallas resident recalls.

The day was September 11, 2010, the place was a nearly abandoned Tyler Street in the heart of the Oak Cliff neighborhood — and the 36-year-old IT consultant was the unlikely leader of a local revolution. Inspired by a trip to Europe, where pedestrian plazas and bike facilities created vibrant public spaces, Roberts had started to look around his own neighborhood and had a realization: Wow, we’re going about this all wrong.

(From left) Jason Roberts and Andrew Howard

In so many places, abandoned buildings disintegrated next to wide, lifeless streets, where absent sidewalks and cracked pavement made pedestrians and bicyclists unwelcome. Meanwhile, antiquated zoning laws hobbled entrepreneurship and street improvement were in the hands engineering experts huddling over maps making abstract calculations about traffic flow.

Roberts decided to challenge the status quo by showing folks the alternative — in real time.

Working with Andrew Howard, his partner in what would become known as Team Better Block, Roberts radically re-imagined Tyler street with the help of a small army of eager volunteers. They painted their own bike lanes and crosswalks. They turned an old car garage into a space for children’s art classes and created café seating outside previously abandoned buildings.

Cognizant of their rebellion, they printed out and posted in the windows every single law they broke in bringing Tyler Street back from the dead. But Team Better Block wasn’t led away in handcuffs. Quite the opposite: City officials started questioning the status quo, too. Clearly the Team has come up with a winning strategy.

Roberts’ innovative, do-it-yourself model proved effective in other areas of Dallas — and soon advocates and officials in other cities were calling, asking Roberts’ team to bring that energy and ingenuity to their own struggling streets. Just three years since that first event, Better Blocks has jumpstarted transformation in Memphis, Wichita, San Antonio and other major cities.

So what are the components of a Better Block and why have these strategies proven successful?

For Roberts, there are four critical attributes of a Better Block project. First, it has to be safe — while volunteers paint the bike lanes, there’s always an engineer in the background making sure the facilities are safe. It has to be inviting and engaging for people no matter their mode of travel and accessible for folks aged 8 to 80. And, perhaps most importantly, it has to have staying power. The beauty of a Better Block is that it’s a temporary installation, soothing concerns from policymakers or powerbrokers who may be wary of the transformation. But, at the same time, it has the potential to spur permanent changes to the street when it proves to be a success.

The key to that success? Changing the advocacy paradigm. “Get out of city hall and onto the street,” Roberts says. “Ninety-percent of the community wants action. They want to pick up a hammer, paintbrushes and brooms and start doing something.”

“It’s so much more powerful to allow people to experience an improved environment as opposed to just showing them pictures and renderings,” he adds. “By physically putting change on the ground, many people who were opposed or maybe didn’t understand the project, can become our advocates once they see that the changes are positive and don’t have a detrimental impact on traffic.”

Read the full story below…

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Carolyn Szczepanski
Communications Director

Carolyn joined the League in March 2012, after two years at the Alliance for Biking & Walking. In addition to managing the League's blog, magazine and other communications, Carolyn organized the first National Women's Bicycling Summit and launched the League's newest program: Women Bike. Before she crossed over to advocacy, she was a professional journalist for nearly 10 years.

National Bike to Work Day is one of our favorite times of the year, and it proved its salt again this morning. The League staff was stationed at several pit stops in and around Washington, D.C., to say hello to bicyclists on their way to work. We passed out bike pins, urged visitors to become members and listened to local politicians as they extolled the benefits of bicycling.

Scroll through some of our photos from this morning in D.C., and be sure to send us yours via Facebook, Twitter or in the comments below!

Thank you to everyone who participated in Bike to Work Day 2013!

I remember the thrill I got the first time my dad let go of the bicycle seat — and I felt the Schwinn moving 100% under in my control. My 5-year-old self immediately recognized the power I possessed. Little did I know how the bike would give me many gifts throughout my life — the most important being refuge for my health challenges.

I found out when I was 16 (like my father found out when he was 26) that I had type 1 diabetes. Type 1 diabetes requires diligent attention to balancing food, insulin, stress and exercise. It’s a balancing act that sometimes feels like I need a medical degree, an exercise physiology degree and a dietitian credential to manage.

When I was in my late 30s, after many years of poorly managed diabetes, I discovered that the key to it all was riding my bike — riding long slow distances to be precise.

I trained for and completed a 400-mile bike tour of Colorado and maintained the best blood sugar control of my life. All the while eating plenty of carbohydrates to fuel my effort climbing all those mountain passes. I finished the bike ride and, much to my chagrin, I couldn’t seem to recover. A few months later I found a lump in my right breast. I had Stage II breast cancer. I rode my bike on a trainer in my living room during chemo treatments and I rode my bike to and from the majority of my radiation sessions.

As the bike had given me hope with my diabetes management, the bike grounded me in who I was as I moved through breast cancer treatments. The week after finishing cancer treatments, I participated in my first triathlon and I loved the healing that came from being in the Survivor Wave. People celebrated and cheered for my survivorship, and that touched me.

I wanted to bring that same healing love to the world of diabetes.

I got involved with the American Diabetes Association Tour de Cure and started the Red Rider Recognition Program. Red Riders are the more than 7,000 cyclists who ride in the Tour de Cure who have diabetes. Red Riders are the heroes of the ride, for we are not victims of our health struggles, but rather we courageously get on our bikes and take charge of our wellness.

During the Tour de Cure, cyclists call out “Go Red Rider!” to those of us with diabetes who wear the Red Rider jersey. “Go Red Rider!” offers encouragement and love for the challenge it is to live well with a difficult disease like diabetes. It touches my heart deeply to hear “Go Red Ride!” It makes all I’ve survived seem not so bad.

I found out in July of 2010 that I had a second primary occurrence of breast cancer. It was the Red Rider community who supported me through those treatments. And you better believe I rode my bike through it all! I’m again cancer-free, though I still have diabetes. So, I keep riding and I keep talking about the power of riding the bike for health.

See you out there!

Carolyn Szczepanski
Communications Director

Carolyn joined the League in March 2012, after two years at the Alliance for Biking & Walking. In addition to managing the League's blog, magazine and other communications, Carolyn organized the first National Women's Bicycling Summit and launched the League's newest program: Women Bike. Before she crossed over to advocacy, she was a professional journalist for nearly 10 years.

The past decade has seen dramatic growth in biking, with the total number of trips more than doubling from 1.7 billion in 2001 to 4 billion in 2009, according to the National Household Travel Survey.

But where has bike commuting grown the most? In Bicycle Friendly Communities (BFC) that have made smart, strategic investments to make biking better.

From 2000 to 2011, the bicycle commuting rate has risen 80% in the largest Bicycle Friendly Communities — far above the average growth of 47% nationwide and more than double the rate of 32% in the cities not designated as bicycle-friendly.

In some Bicycle Friendly Communities, bicycle commuting rates have skyrocketed by more than 400% since 1990, including cities as diverse as Portland, Ore., and Lexington, Ky. Meanwhile, cities like Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, and Denver have more than doubled their bike commuter share since 2000.

Click here to download the infographic as a PDF.

Take it from League President, Andy Clarke: “I see the dramatic increase in ridership on my own daily bike commute, and it’s definitely more pronounced in those communities — like Arlington County and the District of Columbia — that are proactively improving conditions for bicycling and following the Bicycle Friendly Community blueprint.”

Looking for bike commute data for your area?

• Click here to download 2010 bicycle commuting data for all 375 cities included in the American Community Survey

• Click here to download bicycle commute data from 1990 to 2011 for the 70 largest U.S. cities, including percentage of bicycle commuters and percent change

• Click here for 2011 state commute rates, including bicycle commuting by gender

Learn more about Bike to Work Day, find events in your area and statistics about bicycle commuting at www.bikeleague.org/bikemonth. Is your community a BFC? Find out here — and get involved in the program to make biking better in your area!

Carolyn Szczepanski
Communications Director

Carolyn joined the League in March 2012, after two years at the Alliance for Biking & Walking. In addition to managing the League's blog, magazine and other communications, Carolyn organized the first National Women's Bicycling Summit and launched the League's newest program: Women Bike. Before she crossed over to advocacy, she was a professional journalist for nearly 10 years.