The window display on our office reflecting the iconic Doughboy statue
Like the sign in our window says, thank you for riding your bike today, and throughout the year. BikePGH can’t do what we do without you!
2010 was a milestone year for Pittsburgh cyclists. Some major trails were blazed (pardon the pun), to help make Pittsburgh a more bike-friendly city. A lot more work needs to be done, but we’re proud of the headway we made this past year and look forward to building on these successes in the new year.
January – New Office
We started 2010 with a huge organizational change when we moved to our own storefront office space in Lawrenceville’s Doughboy Square. After we moved from an apartment in Highland Park in 2004, we had been sharing an office in the Riverwalk Corporate Center with two other non-profits. We basically outgrew our old space, so moving to our own allowed our growing organization to expand. We also wanted to inhabit a storefront so that we can increase our presence, as well as be able to host events, meetings, and generally make ourselves more available to the public.
March – New Bike Parking Laws
Pittsburgh City Council unanimously passes the Bike Parking Ordinance, an amendment to the Zoning Code that requires all new or “change-in-use” buildings to install secure bike parking. The innovative ordinance, which garnered national press, allows developers to replace car parking spaces (up to a certain amount) with bike parking. This ordinance ensures that cyclists will never again show up to a shiny new building and have to lock to a garbage can.
Also, in partnership with the Mayor’s office, approximately 150 more bike racks (300 bike parking spaces) were installed in our neighborhood’s business districts. 50 racks are left so if you would like a rack in front of your small business please contact Christie Berger in the Mayor’s office and she will walk you through the process.
April – 3rd edition of the Pittsburgh Bike Map
We released the third printing of our award-winning Pittsburgh Bike Map. We updated the popular map with a new cover, and visibly depicting the bike lanes and sharrows that had been installed prior to last spring. This is our one of our keystone projects that helps lead where we should be concentrating our advocacy efforts. If you don’t have one yet, please visit any local bike shop or stop by our office. We even have a map dispenser on the outside 3410 Penn Ave for 24-hour map access.
May – Launch of Car Free Fridays
May marked the launch of this year’s edition of Car Free Fridays. The ambitious program consisted of a series of events that highlighted a different regional neighborhood each month for six months plus Oakland and Downtown each and every month. Businesses in the eight neighborhoods, East Liberty, Lawrenceville, Carnegie, Mt Lebanon, South Side, Oakland and Downtown offered discounts to anyone who pledged to go without a car for that day. Here’s the rundown of numbers. Over 1,150 people participated, over 60 businesses gave discounts to people who walked, biked or bussed-it, we involved over 40 organizations to carry it out, and awarded 12 lucky people prizes valued at $2,500. Stay tuned for next year’s Car Free Friday Events.
May – Pittsburgh awarded “Bronze Bike-Friendly Status” by League of American Cyclists
During Bike Month, we were pleased that the League of American Bicyclists honored the city as a Bronze Bike-Friendly Community. The League presented Mayor Ravenstahl with the award before a crowd of about 150 bicyclists, and announced his plan to install 25 miles of bike lanes in the next two years. Although we still have silver, gold, and platinum levels to reach, this was a major development considering we were considered by Bicycling Magazine as one of the worst cities in the country in which to ride a bike 20 years ago.
June – Hired our fourth staff member
We expanded our full-time staff to four! Lolly Walsh, a recent Washington DC transplant, joined the team to take over the membership program. Our numbers expanded greatly over the past few years, and now needs the attention of a full-time person to help manage, recruit, engage, and service our members. Eric Boerer became the newly created Advocacy Director, tasked with our communications efforts and winning our campaigns for better biking.
August – BikeFest 2010
Our 6th-annual celebration of all things cycling was our most well-attended ever! Our fundraiser attracted over 700 attendees and kicked off a 10-day festival of rides, movies, lectures, and more attended by hundreds more.
In the six years since its inception, BikeFest has become a Pittsburgh institution drawing thousands of participants.
November – More Bike Lanes and Sharrows
After months of work, the City of Pittsburgh installed bike lanes and shared lane markings (sharrows) on several East End Streets. The addition of these on-street markings helps create a network of streets that spans six neighborhoods and three major parks. Wilkins Ave and Highland Ave were marked first, followed by Dallas Ave, Forbes Ave and Hamilton St.
November – Port Authority announces funding to “Complete the Fleet”
After years of advocating for better integration with transit vehicles, the Port Authority announced that they will outfit the remaining 190 buses with racks by the end of 2011.
This will enhance the reliability of the bikes-on-bus service while providing more options for customers to access (and pay for) transit.
CLICK HERE to read more.
- Be sure to check out all of our accomplishments since 2002 on our History Page
Not a member of BikePGH? Join today! We need you to add your voice! Bike Pittsburgh works to protect cyclist’s rights and promote the vision of making Pittsburgh a safer and more enjoyable place to live and to ride. For more info, check out: www.bike-pgh.org/membership
NEWSLETTER