An animation of the history of on-street bike infrastructure in Pittsburgh. The majority having been installed over the past five years.

Dear friend,

Please make a tax-deductible year-end donation today and help us transform Pittsburgh’s streets into vibrant, healthy places by making them safe and accessible for everyone to bike and walk.

A bit over a decade ago Bike Pittsburgh didn’t exist. There was no bike map that you could pick up for free at a bike shop and head off with to explore the city. There were no bike lanes except for those that looped around parks. There were no bike racks in our business districts welcoming bicyclists to stop there and shop. If it was raining or you got a flat, you couldn’t count on a bus to have a bike rack on the front of it to save the day. 10 years ago the streets were hostile and no one was doing anything about it.

We had an idea that we could counter the hostility we saw every day riding our streets through better infrastructure and education. That we could connect our neighborhoods together with bike lanes, and that when we arrived at our destinations we had racks to lock to. We envisioned a transportation system where if something went wrong along the way, or if the distance was a bit too far to cover we could easily put our bikes on a bus or a train.

10 years and nearly 2,200 members later, our work is beginning to bear fruit. We’ve been instrumental in getting over 40 miles of on-street bike markings, hundreds of bike racks, and access to transit any time of day whether it’s a bus or train. In some ways 2012 is going to be seen as a point of departure for Pittsburgh in terms of biking and walking. A handful of high profile tragedies that rocked our community put the safety of our streets in the front of a lot of people’s minds. You have our commitment to making sure the subject stays there, front and center.

Despite the bad news, we made some real progress. Read the year in review to see just how much we’ve been able to accomplish in 2012. But we can’t let up now. Pittsburgh needs world class bicycle and pedestrian facilities, more enforcement for dangerous drivers, more motorist and bicyclist education, a bike share system that makes biking even more convenient, and fun events that get even more people riding. Please donate today to help make these projects a reality.

Sincerely,

Scott Bricker
Executive Director