Year in Review 2020

Thanks for keeping our wheels turning.

While 2020 was not the year any of us expected, we at BikePGH are more thankful than ever for the support of our biking and walking community. You allowed us to keep working every day to create safer streets and new experiences for all. We cannot continue the work we do without generous donors like you.

2020 Highlights Include:

Our MoveForwardPGH collaboration with the City of Pittsburgh will see the rapid implementation of up to 50 miles of new and upgraded bike infrastructure by the end of 2021. Over the course of 2020, MoveForwardPGH has made strides in improving Pittsburgh’s bicycling infrastructure and in making it easier for drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians to get around safely. Already this year, the City has added 12 miles of new bike lanes, trails, and Neighborways.
We released the 8th edition of the Pittsburgh Bike Map. Since our last bike map was released 2 years ago, the City of Pittsburgh has extended the bike network to include the addition of over 14 miles of new bike lanes, Neighborways, and trails. 20,000 copies of the new map will begin circulating in 2021, members can grab theirs by renewing today!
Over 1,200 people participated in the socially distanced UPMC Health Plan PedalPGH, helping us raise crucial funds for biking and walking even during the uncertainty of the Covid-19 pandemic.
132 people attended the 7th Annual (and first virtual!) Women & Non-Binary Bike Summit, presented by Dollar Bank. Speakers included Shequaya Bailey, Monica Garrison, Diana Hildebrand, and more.
After many years of planning and outreach, the City released its Bike(+) Plan. This has been a focus of our advocacy efforts for many years – the previous plan was released in 1999!
We were proud to partner with the Bike Match Network to match over 20 Pittsburghers with free bikes for transportation during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Advocacy

We helped welcome a new street type to Pittsburgh – the Neighborway! This new low-impact street design launched over the summer to help calm traffic in several residential corridors identified in the Bike(+) Plan.
We hosted a series of Online Advocacy Workshops to keep our advocates informed and engaged in a new virtual setting.
Together with Pitt and CMU, we hosted a virtual Bike to Campus Week on our platforms. This week-long series of online activities and info sessions was aimed at welcoming new riders and sharing tips and tricks for the road!
Over 145,000 trips have been counted on the Penn Ave bike lanes this year (and the highest daily number of trips all year was recorded during PedalPGH!)

Education

And of course, we released the 8th edition of the Pittsburgh Bike Map. This new update adds in over 14 miles of new bike lanes, Neighborways, and trails so you can get where you need to go
Despite the pandemic, we were able to hold three Operation Illumination light giveaway events, and gave out 175 light sets to unlit cyclists in Pittsburgh.
We produced the Family Guide – a new free resource for PGH families looking to get started biking in the city!
BikePGH is partnering with the City of Pittsburgh’s Safe Routes to School Coordinator to assist this year’s SRTS Champion Schools.
We have continued our partnership with Pittsburgh Public Schools and Children’s Hospital to bring a learn to ride curriculum to first graders in 2021.
Our education series of “How to Videos” reached over 20k views in 2020.

Events

1,245 people participated in the 27th Annual PedalPGH fundraiser! Adapting to our new virtual world, UPMC Health Plan PedalPGH was reimagined so that participants could choose from four new routes to ride on their own or in small groups. An estimated 70,351 miles was ridden by participants in support of better biking and walking!
In May we launched a virtual activity challenge for our members called Roll & Stroll, with weekly biking and walking activities that could be done anywhere, anytime.
The City of Steel Walk/Run – our first truly “virtual” event – had over 50 participants! With their help, we were able to donate 1,250 meals to the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank.
Our 7th Annual Women & Non-Binary Bike Summit went virtual, bringing together 132 participants to for transformational day of learning and empowerment.

Membership and Community

BikePGH now has 3,093 member-donors in our biking and walking community.
491 people have chosen to become monthly members, contributing $5 or more per month towards safer Pittsburgh streets.
Our business member network now includes over 80 businesses across the region.
The Women & Non-Binary Program (WMNBikePGH) hosted 10 coffee meetups and 5 workshops both in-person and virtually.
BikePGH partnered with the Bike Match Network during the Covid-19 pandemic to connect people who have an extra bicycle with the people who need them most. Since the program launched this summer over 20 matches have been made, providing local essential workers and others with much-needed transportation.
Our volunteers took on socially-distanced tasks like delivering face masks, tuning up bikes for the Bike Match program, and testing the new PedalPGH routes to ensure safe solo riding.

MoveForwardPGH

BikePGH partnered with Healthy Ride and the City of Pittsburgh’s Department of Mobility and Transportation to kick off MoveForwardPGH, a rapid implementation of the new Bike (+) Plan
Over the course of 2020, MoveForwardPGH has made strides in improving Pittsburgh’s bicycling infrastructure and in making it easier for drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians to get around safely. Already this year, the City has added 12 miles of new bike lanes, trails, and Neighborways.
Through billboards, bus shelter ads, online ads and videos, and even bus wraps, a lot of eyes were seeing how bike infrastructure can benefit them. The digital advertising has logged 11.5 million impressions, with 305K views on one video alone!
Organized with 13 Bike/Ped committees to share the plan and get feedback on projects
Hosted 10 online community meetings with 843 participants to gain feedback and support
We got the word out with 15,875 postcards, 75 street signs, 82 yard signs
Click here to read the full MoveForwardPGH year in review blog

2021 At a Glance

Bicycle Film Festival Virtual World Tour: Pittsburgh: February
Bike to [Anywhere] Week: May 17th – 21st
The Women & Non-Binary Bike Summit: June 26th
OpenStreetsPGH presented by UPMC Health Plan: July
PedalPGH: Sunday, Aug 29th

Make a Difference Today

With your support, we can keep moving forward in 2021. Click here to support safe streets with a $10, $100, or $500 gift right now and have your donation doubled!

PS We only have until December 20th to unlock a $50,000 match. Support safe streets with a gift right now so we can double your donation! Click here to make a contribution.