Attention Localities Looking to Boost Bicycle Ridership
Santa Cruz, California Richard Masoner / Flickr via CC BY-SA-2.0
Through 'The Big Jump," PeopleForBikes wants to find a replicable formula for creating strong bike communities.
PeopleForBikes, a Boulder, Colorado-based bicycle advocacy group, is looking to double or triple bike ridership in 10 U.S. localities by 2020 mixing infrastructure, outreach and public engagement.
The organization calls its bike push The Big Jump, and it’s the spiritual successor to the Green Lane Project, which helps cities quickly add protected bike lanes to existing streets.
Town, city and county governments can apply with those backed by diverse teams of local elected officials, transportation departments, nonprofits, residents and businesses preferred.
The scope is narrow: a single neighborhood or district within which to establish a “high-comfort” bike network. Comfortable networks are free of traffic stress that might deter some bikers from taking to the streets for fear of an accident.
PeopleForBikes is out to prove a bike culture can be fostered and institutionalized within cities to boost economic development, residents’ health, environmental quality, and underserved populations’ accessibility.
Each selected community’s solution will be tailored and bolstered with targeted grants.
Funding matches aren’t necessary, according to PeopleForBikes:
However, the participation of local funders has two primary benefits: the project will be more effective with additional resources, and local funding is a strong indicator of local support. The Big Jump is interested in local funding matches in four key areas: conducting an annual survey of users in the area to understand participation and perceptions, travel support for local leaders to attend domestic and international study tours and gatherings, funding for local outreach and engagement efforts in the neighborhoods, support to bring in outside experts as needed, including workshops, technical advice and communications assistance.
The more ambitious a city’s plan, the better with recent biking successes a plus.
Applications are due Oct. 28, and finalists will be notified by email in January 2017. For more information on application expectations visit here.
Dave Nyczepir is a News Editor at Government Executive’s Route Fifty.
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