Green Business

Pittsburgh Business Times – by Tim Schooley

As a measure of how much bicycle commuting has caught on in his office, Carl Kelly considers the curious cubicle crush of bikes now jamming up the rack at Vivisimo, the fast growing search engine firm in Squirrel Hill.

“Lately, I’m having a hard time finding a place to park my bike,” said Kelly, the director of professional services, who bikes 15 miles from Upper St. Clair to Squirrel Hill about 100 days each year. “Ten and 15 people commute by bike regularly. When I first started, it was me and another guy.”

Whether for fun, health, cost savings or the environment, Kelly, 48, has more company among the cars, as bicycle commuting continues to see dramatic growth in the Pittsburgh area.  While Pittsburgh’s bicycling scene was off the national map a few years ago, the city is now estimated to have more than 1 percent of the population riding bikes to work on a regular basis, spiking by 37.5 percent in one year, according to census survey estimates. Scott Bricker, executive director of Bike Pittsburgh, a nonprofit organization that advocates for cycling, said his group’s membership has grown from 125 three years ago to more than 800.

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