These businesses set an example of how to invest in the health, safety, and accessibility of our city
Throughout the country, industries and residents are moving back into cities at historic rates. Overwhelmingly, people are choosing to live in places that are walkable, bikeable, and have access to great public transit service.
We’ve cultivated our BikePGH Business Network so that businesses can stand out as leaders in this movement– and this week we recognized and celebrated these businesses at our annual Business Member Awards Night! Thank you to everyone who joined us at Allegheny City Brewing in Pittsburgh’s Northside for the awards presentation, food, drinks, and networking fun.
Through this annual celebration, we strengthen our network’s ties and celebrate the success of BikePGH’s events and advocacy work in 2024! We are truly grateful for the support and camaraderie of the businesses in our network.
Fabricated by local artist William Vitous, trophies are presented to each standout business. Inspired by the iconic Three Rivers Bike Rack, a rack we helped install across the city in conjunction with our bike rack manufacturing partners, Dero, and with grant funding.
This year, several of our members made a significant impact through the changes we’ve been able to create together. Read on to discover more about this year’s standout business members and how they are contributing to a better Pittsburgh for people who walk and bike. Huge congrats to:
- New Business Members of the Year – Pittsburgh Penguins Foundation + First National Bank
- Sponsor of the Year – Pittsburgh Regional Transit
- Small Business Champion of the Year – Cottle Built
- Bike Industry Supporter of the Year – Makeshift Bikes
New Business Members of the Year – Pittsburgh Penguins Foundation + First National Bank
These two Hill District anchors joined forces to provide the June OpenStreetsPGH event with a ton of fun and healthy outdoor activity for all ages and abilities. Their Kids Activity Hub at Frankie Pace Park and Community Hub in the Hill District were so much fun while demonstrating the exciting future of reconnection efforts between Downtown, Lower Hill, and the Historic Hill District. We are truly grateful to have two leading members of our Pittsburgh business community stepping forward to collaborate and champion these efforts with us.
Bike Industry Supporter of the Year – Makeshift Bikes
If you haven’t yet heard, Makeshift Bikes is a small but mighty bike shop. We feel very strongly that for folks in our Women and Nonbinary Program, the last thing they need is to be mansplained on how to change a tire. We were thrilled to find out after working with the wonderful Aryn a couple of times on comprehensive Know Your Bike classes last year, we were able to bring folks along on a deep dive into drive train, wheels, gears, and shifters. Workshop attendees got closer with their bikes as they learned basics like patching and changing a tire to identifying and adapting other more specific mechanics.
Sponsor of the Year – Pittsburgh Regional Transit (PRT)
BikePGH has worked with Pittsburgh Regional Transit (PRT) since we started out over 20 years ago. One of our very first campaigns pushed for bike racks to be installed on the fronts of buses. And now, there’s a bike rack on every single bus. Our Advocacy and Education departments teamed up in 2024 to formalize Bike and Pedestrian Safety as part of the curriculum taught to incoming PRT drivers. In 2024, we taught 300 new PRT drivers the laws and safety considerations while maneuvering in traffic with people riding bicycles! Thank you to PRT for being a wonderful partner making great progress to keep Pittsburghers safer using all forms of transportation.
Small Business Champion of the Year – Cottle Built
Mike Cottle is a renaissance man, and he seems to be just about everywhere these days. BikePGH first learned about Mike when we discovered he had taken it upon himself to make sure every single brewery in Pittsburgh had copies of the Pittsburgh Bike Map ready to help navigate patrons home safely. He’s wrenched at several local bike shops and this past year Mike not only started his very own bike shop, he also single-handedly manned repair stations at two different PedalPGH rest stops. He’s a huge fan of BikePGH and a big supporter of our work– and we are of his!
Do you want to be recognized as a leader who helps to improve the safety & accessibility our of city?
It’s never too early to start thinking about next year and joining our Business Member community. We’d love to work with you! Email christine@bikepgh.org to talk about opportunities for your business to help BikePGH make Pittsburgh safer and more fun in 2025 and beyond!
Check out our Flickr Album to see more photos–
NEWSLETTER