February 2002 Bike Pittsburgh began in the Winter of 2002 when David Hoffman was hit by a car at the intersection of Negley and Penn Avenues on his bicycle commute home from work. Hoffman decided to use the exposure to bring attention to bicycle safety by starting a local website dedicated to it.

June 2002 The site attracted thousands of visitors. Scott Bricker who had a strong interest in advocacy, and Lou Fineberg who had just written and published 3 Rivers on 2 Wheels, a bicycle guide book to Pittsburgh contacted Hoffman to see how they could get involved. Hoffman’s commitment to safety, Bricker’s emphasis on advocacy, and Fineberg’s interest in community building laid the foundation for Bike Pittsburgh’s core values; the purpose of which is to make Pittsburgh bicycle commuter friendly and promote and encourage bicycling as viable form of transportation.

August 2002 David invited his employer at the time Ed Engler, and George Schmidt, a stalwart of the local bicycling community to join them in starting Bike Pittsburgh as its initial Board members.

December 2002 Bike Pittsburgh files articles of incorporation

January 2003 Filed for and received 501(c)3 non-profit status

February 2003 Bike Pittsburgh’s first Meet and Greet was held in February of 2003 at The Sharp Edge and drew about 60 interested people.

May 2003 Bike Pittsburgh started establishing a strong working relationship with Free Ride, a fledging bicycle recyclery based out of Wilkinsburg.

Fall 2003 Free Ride became a project of Bike Pittsburgh and the two have since been essential for each other’s growth and success. Besides close collaborations Bike Pittsburgh is Free Ride’s fiscal sponsor, but it is run independently. It is this role that Bike Pittsburgh has since started to play for another bicycle organization, Pittsburgh Trails Advocacy Group(PTAG), now known as Trail Pittsburgh.

February 2004 The second Meet and Greet was held at Free Ride and drew well over 100 people. At that event people were asked to sign up for working groups such as the Infrastructure Working Group, which would lay the foundation for the bike routes that the city will start marking and adding lanes to in 2007.

Spring 2004 It was clear at around this time that Bike Pittsburgh should assume the leadership of Sustainable Pittsburgh’s Urban Cycling Committee especially after so many Bike Pittsburgh members came out to a PennDOT open house to insist on bicycle improvements to the West End Circle. One of Bike Pittsburgh’s strengths is its proven ability to motivate people to attend public meetings making sure that bicyclists are being considered.

Spring 2004 continued Bike Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership, and the Sprout Fund collaborate on installing Three Rivers “Public Art” Bike Racks around the city. This proved to be a major early victory that helped garner Bike Pittsburgh a great deal of attention. The racks were manufactured by Red Star Studios and designed by Wall to Wall Studios thus keeping the whole process local. The project demonstrated that bike advocacy was more than just infrastructure and education, but also that art and good design would play a key role.

Spring 2004 continued It was becoming obvious is that the demand for bicycle advocacy and a sense of community among bicyclists was great. David Hoffman quits his full-time job to become acting Executive Director on a volunteer basis.

June 2005 Eric “Erok” Boerer conceives of and chairs the planning effort of the first BikeFest. It was a huge success with over 40 events over the course of a week and a half. Thousands participated. BikeFest has really become Bike Pittsburgh’s signature event. It also benefited from a Sprout Fund grant.

August 2005 Through Sustainable Pittsburgh’s outdoor amenities program Bike Pittsburgh was funded by Richard King Mellon Foundation to assist the city in determining the most desirable bicycle routes for including bike lanes and share the road markings.

August 2005 continued This grant enabled Bike Pittsburgh to hire its first full time Executive Director and a part-time staff member. Scott Bricker was hired to take the helm as the organizations first full-time Executive Director and Eric Boerer was enlisted as part-time staff.

Fall of 2005 Lou Fineberg becomes Board president.

2005 Year in Review

January 2006 David Hoffman takes a full-time job with The Alliance for Biking and Walking (formerly the Thunderhead Alliance), a bicycle advocacy group working on the national level.

January 2006 continued Bike Pittsburgh establishes a monthly meeting with Pittsburgh City Planning.

June 2006 BikeFest II a resounding success despite some bad weather. Bike Pittsburgh attracts 50 brand new members and raises $5,000 to pursue its mission.

Summer 2006 Bike Pittsburgh encourages City Planning to form a number of Bike Infrastructure working groups to tackle problems related to trails, road maintenance, bike lanes, bike parking, and bridges.

September 2007 Ed Engler takes over as Board President

November 2006 Bike Pittsburgh launches new website

Spring 2007 Bike PGH’s work gave the city our first commuter-oriented bike lanes and shared lane markings on Liberty Ave in Bloomfield/Lawrenceville

September 2007 Bike Pittsburgh and PennDOT work together to install bike lanes on the popular Birmingham Bridge. This is also the first use in the City of Pittsburgh of the “blue” bike lane, a method used in many bicycle-friendly cities to help cyclists cross intersections.

September 2007 US Census ACS data

October 2007 Bike Pittsburgh releases the first on-street Pittsburgh bike map in fifteen years. In only a few months, we gave away almost 20,000 copies.

December 2007 Bike Pittsburgh launches the Corporate Sponsorship and Employer Program.

May 2008 Bike Pittsburgh releases the Pittsburgh Bike Map, online. This is one of the most comprehensive bicycle maps of any U.S. city.

August 2008 Bike Pittsburgh and Mayor Luke Ravenstahl announce the creation and hiring of a new city position, the Bike/Ped Coordinator. This is the first in the State of Pennsylvania.

August 2008 The Port Authority, working with Bike Pittsburgh, announces the lifting of some restrictions regarding bicycles. There are no more peak restrictions on the incline, and folding bikes can be brought onto the T and aboard buses (provided there’s no rack) at any time.

September 2008 According to the US Census, Pittsburgh increases its bicycle commuters by 37% from the year before.

October 2008 Bike Pittsburgh launches the 2009 version of our popular Pittsburgh Bike Map. This time we increased the number of copies and made some changes and updates.

October 2008 Bike Pittsburgh and the City work together to give East Liberty Blvd Pittsburgh’s first safety-improving “road diet.” One lane of car traffic was removed to allow for a bicycle-only lane.

November 2008 Launched bikethestrike.org to help cyclists out in the event of an impending Port Authority Transit Strike. Fortunately, the strike was averted, but a concise “how to bike to work” guide was created.

December 2008 Our Pittsburgh Bike Map wins Print Magazine’s Regional Design Annual Award

January 2009 New bike rack installation ordinance unanimously passes City Council making it easy for businesses to install bike racks in the public right of way.  Municipal Code 419.05 (b)

April 2009 Prevention Magazine ranks Pittsburgh 10th Best Walking City. The Reason: Hiring Bike/Ped Coordinator (see August 2008).  Also that week, Good Magazine ranks Pittsburgh as one of the “7 Best Burgeoning Bike Scenes in North America.”

May 2009 Bike Lanes installed on Wightman and Beacon Streets in Squirrel Hill

June 2009 We launch the ambitious Car Free Fridays campaign.  It’s a program designed to reward people for not using a car.

August 2009 Sharrows installed on Pittsburgh’s most famous road, Penn Ave through the Strip District connecting to the Liberty Ave bike lanes

September 2009 Bike lanes and sharrows installed on Forbes Ave in Squirrel Hill.  This needed “backbone” connects S. Braddock Ave to Carnegie Mellon University.

September 2009 US Census ACS data

October 2009 We release our Bike Commuting 101 Guide, available in both print and online formats in partnership with the City of Pittsburgh, the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership, and the Sprout Fund.  This comic book style educational guide makes reading about urban cycling almost as fun as actually riding!

October 2009 200 new bike racks to be installed when the City launches bike rack program including a rack request form

November 2009 We reached the milestone of having 1,000 full-paid members

January 2010 We moved to a new storefront office space in Lawrenceville’s Doughboy Square, at 3410 Penn Ave.

March 2010 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 Link to ordinance (pdf) here

April 2010 We release the third printing of our award-winning Pittsburgh Bike Map

May 2010 The League of American Cyclists awards Pittsburgh a Bronze Level Bike-Friendly Community status. At the awards ceremony, Mayor Ravenstahl announced that the City will add 25 miles of new bike lanes and shared lane markings in two years

June 2010 We hired our fourth paid staffer

September 2010 US Census ACS data shows Pittsburgh had the 4th largest increase in bike commuters, nationwide

November 2010 Bike lanes get installed on Wilkins Ave, Sharrows on Highland Ave

November 2010 Bike lanes, sharrows get installed on Dallas Ave and Hamilton Ave expanding the East End Bike Network

November 2010 Port Authority announces that they will “complete the fleet” of buses with bike racks by the end of 2011

2010 Year in Review Blog Post

March 2011 The Alliance for Biking and Walking, the national organization that helps strengthen and support local advocacy groups, awards BikePGH the nationally recognized, “2010 Advocacy Organization of the Year” during the National Bike Summit

May 2011 BikePGH releases the Car Free Calculator, an online tool to help you track your biking and walking miles, savings, CO2 reduction, and calories burned.

August 2011 Mayor Luke Ravenstahl honors our own Eric Boerer for his “volunteerism and dedication to the City of Pittsburgh” and was given a Citizen Service Award that named a whole day named after him. The Mayor did “hereby declare August 26, 2011…’Mr. Eric Boerer Day‘ here in our most livable City of Pittsburgh”

August 2011 We release the fourth version of our award-winning Pittsburgh Bike Map

September 2011 With the help from BikePGH, the City installs legit bike lanes on Liberty Ave in Bloomfield, where there were once only sharrows (see Spring 2007 above)

September 2011 The Port Authority announces that 100% of buses now have bike racks.  Here is the 10 year history of how they went from zero to Completing the Fleet.

September 2011 The Port Authority announces that there will no longer be peak-hour restrictions on bringing bikes aboard the T light rail system or the incline. Bikes can board at any time.

September 2011 The US Census ACS data shows a 269% increase in Pittsburgh bike commuters in 10 years

November 2011 The Northside neighborhood sees their first on-street bike lanes and sharrows

December 2011 The popular Liberty Ave bike lanes branch off to markings on Millvale Ave, Friendship Ave, Neville St, and Ellsworth making connections between Bloomfield and East Liberty, Oakland, and Shadyside.

December 2011 We take over hosting the iconic local event, Pedal Pittsburgh from CDCP and hire an Events Coordinator

2011 Year in Review Blog Post

February 2012 Governor Corbett signs the Safe Passing Bill into law, making it, among other things, illegal to pass a bicyclist with less than 4? of clearance. Along with our partners around the state, we have been lobbying for this for years.

May 2012 We worked with the City of Pittsburgh and OTB Bike Cafe to install the City’s first on-street bike corral

May 2012 Bike lanes are installed in the Northside, Bloomfield, and Oakland finishing up the projects that were started in November 2011

July 2012 Bike lanes and sharrows installed on East Carson St in the South Side, and Butler St in Lawrenceville

September 2012 Pittsburgh picked to host the 2014 Pro Walk/Pro Bike Conference – the largest active transportation conference of engineers, planners, and advocates in the world

September 2012 US Census ACS Data says Pittsburgh has the 5th highest biking+walking commuter rate in the nation

November 2012 Bike lanes installed on Thomas Blvd in Point Breeze beginning the clearly marked Penn Ave Alternative

2012 Year in Review Blog Post

Winter 2013 Began actively fundraising and planning for launching bike share in Pittsburgh

April 2013 Liberty Ave bike lanes go green

May 2013 In addition to getting every Mayoral Candidate to answer our survey, most Council Candidates completed it (the ones who didn’t lose), we managed to collect over 2,500 signatures to make biking and walking a priority issue in the primary election, during our We Walk We Bike We Vote Campaign

June 2013 City adds dozens of bike racks to the Downtown business district

June 2013 Two more bike corrals open for business, in front of Kaya in the Strip District, and the Double Wide Grill in the South Side.

July 2013 Central Oakland, Polish Hill get first bike lanes. Park Place, Squirrel Hill connections made

August 2013 We launch the Drive With Care Campaign, our first PSA directed toward motorists, featuring local cyclists including the likes of Pittsburgh Steelers Wide Receiver, Antonio Brown

September 2013 Launched our Better Bikeways Vision, a document that introduces innovative bike infrastructure and what it would look like in Pittsburgh

November 2013 City’s first bicycle boulevard and speed humps are installed on Gold Way in Polish Hill

2013 Year in Review Blog Post

January 2014 The Pocusset St “road shift,” ie a street that was converted to the exclusive use of bikes and peds, opens for business

March 2014 Pittsburgh gets selected for the Green Lane Project 2.0, a project of People For Bikes to help cities install protected and next level bike lanes.

March 2014 The 1st Annual Women and Biking Forum attracts a sold-out crowd.

April 2014 Negley Run Blvd goes on a road diet, adding bike lanes to get you close to the Bud Harris Cycling Oval

May 2014 BikePGH launches its very first in-the-saddle bicycling education course called City Cycling

July 2014 Mayor Peduto announces plans for three protected bike lanes

August 2014 Pittsburgh’s first protected bike lane adds a needed connection on Saline St between two popular trails

September 2014 Both Schenley Dr and Penn Ave protected bike lanes get installed and the Post-Gazette love them

September 2014 The international Pro Walk Pro Bike Pro Place conference comes to Pittsburgh drawing a record crowd as well as Obama’s Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx, to the Convention Center

September 2014 Pittsburgh’s census numbers show a doubling of bike commuter rates since the city started earnestly installing bike lanes in 2007. Also, largest increase in the nation since Y2K

October 2014 First year of City Cycling classes concludes. All told, nearly 170 people took our courses.

2014 Finished incubating and fully spun off Pittsburgh Bike Share

2014 Year in Review Blog Post

January 2015 City passes the friendliest budget for cycling in history

April 2015 Mayor Peduto issues a Complete Streets Executive Order

May 2015 BikePGH helps usher in Pittsburgh’s first OpenStreetsPGH event, opening up the streets from Lawrenceville to Downtown for non-motorized uses only

May 2015 Healthy Ride, Pittsburgh’s Bike Share System launches

June 2015 The Oakland neighborhood sees a major expansion of bike lanes which include some of the City’s first bike boxes.

June 2015 We take on Positive Spin, a summer youth program in Pittsburgh Public Schools, that helps get middle schoolers riding bikes

September 2015 Penn Ave protected bike lane gets extension, new bike lanes in Oakland, and Lawrenceville

October 2015 Release of our Neighborhood Bike and Pedestrian Committee Toolkit, a resource to help all of the citizen advocates start groups and do their job even more effectively

2015 Year in Review Blog Post

May 2016 Releasing the 6th Edition of the Pittsburgh Bike Map, featuring all 50 Healthy Ride stations and a new blow-up map of Downtown

May 2016  continued White House Task Force on New Americans highlights our “Welcoming Bike Ride” in partnership with Mayor Peduto’s office as a national “bright spot in welcoming and integration”.

June 2016 #LunchLoop was launched to get people out of the office and on bikes during the work day

June 2016 continued The first class of Positive Spin adapted for young people aging out of foster services, in partnership with Action-Housing, saw 10 students graduate from the program earning brand new bikes and commuter accessories.

August 2016 Positive Spin middle schoolers complete long distance bike ride on the Great Allegheny Passage. A total of 12 middle schoolers completed 46 miles and 8 completed around 25 miles.

September 2016 Over 1,200 people signed our petition to PennDOT demanding a safer West Carson Street

October 2016 Positive Spin Wins Impact Award from 100 Women Who Care

October 2016 continued New East Ohio street bike lane open for business

October 2016 continued BikePGH hosted a 9-day, 9-event community WalkFest event celebrating the walkability of the great city of Pittsburgh

November 2016 With help from Allegheny County and the Western Pennsylvania Regional Data Center, BikePGH released a Report on Pedestrian and Bicycling Safety in Pittsburgh, 2011-2015

November 2016 continued Biking, walking, and transit planning and infrastructure have been enshrined into law with Pittsburgh’s Complete Streets Ordinance

2016: Year in Review Blog Post

February 2017 Mayor Peduto creates the first ever Department of Mobility and Infrastructure, effectively raising the priority of Transportation in the City

March 2017 We release the first ever survey of biking and walking alongside autonomous vehicles. Over 1,000 people participated in the survey.

March 2017 continued Launched educational how-to video series on our Youtube station

May 2017The City installs Pittsburgh’s first 2-stage turn boxes on Highland and East Liberty Blvd.

May 2017 continued After a contentious Mayor Primary, where challenging candidates attacked bike lanes and made them a campaign issue, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette publishes a BikePGH opinion piece.

July 2017 City, PennDOT, URA, CMU, Pitt and OTMA announce that they will install bike lanes on Forbes Ave in Oakland, from Bigelow Blvd to Margaret Morrison St at CMU.

July 2017 continued Sharpsburg Borough passes a Complete Streets Policy

July 2017 continued After three successful OpenStreetsPGH events, over 90,000 participated in the event over the summer.

August 2017 City begins phase 1 and installs bike lanes on Forbes Ave, between Craig St and Bigelow Blvd.

August 2017 continued The Forbes Ave bike lanes include Pittsburgh’s first bike signal and contra-flow bike lane to connect Bellefield to Bigelow Blvd

September 2017 Pittsburgh bucked the nationwide trend, and has posted a significant increase in our bike commuter rate, despite cheaper gas prices. According to the latest US Census data for 2016, we are now a “top 10” bike commuter city in the nation.

September 2017 continued BikePGH turns 15!

September 2017 continued Negley Ave in East Liberty/Friendship underwent a road diet, adding bike lanes and clarity to the chaotic street.

October 2017 Positive Spin expands to Obama Academy, our third Pittsburgh Public School

December 2017 BikePGH announced 2017 Business Member Awards

2017: Year in Review Blog Post

February 2018 City Council District 8 candidates respond to our survey

April 2018BikePGH hosts 5th Annual Women and Biking Forum

April 2018 continuedAfter 13 years, BikePGH decides to let go of BikeFest to focus on larger, more impactful events like OpenStreetsPGH

April 2018 continued A new OpenStreetsPGH route is announced. We’ll be taking the event to the East End for the first time.

May 2018 A record attendance at the South Side, Uptown, Downtown OpenStreetsPGH event

May 2018 continued We publish the 7th Version of the Pittsburgh Bike Map

June 2018 BikePGH launches the #ExtendPenn campaign to push for the Penn Ave bike lanes to be extended east into the neighborhoods

September 2018In Downtown, City installs contra-flow bike lane on 3rd Ave and allows bikes to use bus lanes

2018: Year in Review Blog Post

February 2019 We publish our second survey on how Pittsburgh’s walkers and bikers feel about sharing the road with Autonomous Vehicles

April 2019 The city’s longest protected bike lane opens for business in Hazelwood, with the construction of the Hazelwood Green development

April 2019 continued 15% of respondents living within the City of Pittsburgh indicated that they regularly ride a bike for transportation, according to April’s Make My Trip Count Survey. Overall, 4.5% of respondents say that they regularly ride, up from 1.5% just five years ago.

May 2019 9 candidates for City Council Districts 1,3,5,7, and 9 responded to our I Walk I Bike I Vote questionnaire.

July 2019 Bike lanes were installed on Forbes Ave in Oakland, after a multi-year campaign called “Safe Fifth Forbes,” that connect the universities of CMU and Pitt

September 2019 We installed a temporary Parking Protected Bike Lane, with the help of State Representative Sara Innamorato, the City of Pittsburgh, and Healthy Ride, to raise awareness about legalizing this simple type of bike lane in Pennsylvania

September 2019 continued The first Bike To Campus Day was a success!

2019 Year in Review

March 2020 The City’s first “Neighborway” gets completed in the South Side. This new street type helps expand the bike network using mainly shared residential streets, but traffic calmed.

June 2020 The City publishes their Bike(+) Plan, the first bicycle master plan in 21 years.

July 2020 We joined forces with the City of Pittsburgh’s Department of Mobility and Infrastructure and POGOH to implement the new Bike(+) Plan. The initiative, called MoveForwardPGH engaged the community throughout the process of installing new bike-friendly connections throughout Pittsburgh, and help market the changes.

October 2020 We produced the Family Guide – a new free resource for PGH families looking to get started biking in the city! 

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.

2020 Year in Review

Feb 2021 We launched our updated Grassroots Advocacy Toolkit to help local residents push for change within their neighborhood

May 2021 Our We Walk We Bike We Vote campaign interviewed Pittsburgh’s candidates for Mayor and City Council

May 2021 Bike Anywhere Week celebrates the joys on two wheels

June 2021 8th Annual WMNB Bike Summit worked to break down gendered barriers to bicycling, bike advocacy, size inclusivity in the cycling community

July 2021 Mini-OpenStreetsPGH in Hazelwood brought a pandemic safe version of the popular event

July 2021 Launch of the BikePGH Family Guide

Aug 2021 We raised over $210K for bike advocacy during our annual PedalPGH ride

Sept 2021 Launch of our Safe Trips in the Strip campaign to connect the Penn Ave bike lanes to the surrounding communities

Sept 2021 Annual Bike to Campus Week

Nov 2021 Distributed over 400 bike lights in our Operation Illumination Program

Dec 2021 The MoveForwardPGH Campaign wrapped up with an impressive number of miles of new and improvements to the bike network

Dec 2021 Prohibition of Parking in Bike Lanes officially enshrined in City Law

2021 Year in Review

CELEBRATED 20 YEARS OF IMPROVING BIKING AND WALKING IN PITTSBURGH

Feb 2022 We published our Snapshot of Trends and Statistics for bicycling and walking in Pittsburgh

Feb 2022 We worked with City Council, who unanimously passed legislation to make 15 mph the default speed limit on City of Pittsburgh park roads.

Mar 2022 Hosted our first League Cycling Instructor (LCI) Seminar since 2017 and certified 12 new LCIs from the Pittsburgh area and beyond.

Jan-Nov 2022 In a partnership with DOMI, we installed over 400 bike racks across the city, spanning neighborhoods from Beechview to Homewood, and everywhere in between. Additionally, another 7.5 miles of on-street bike lanes and Neighborways were installed

Aug 2022 A new type of bike lane design – protected intersections – were installed with the Allegheny Circle two-way conversion project in the Northside. These may be the first in the state of Pennsylvania.

Summer – Fall 2022 Gave away over 500 lights and 260 helmets to those in need through our Operation Illumination program

2022 Year in Review

• The City’s first concrete Jersey-Barrier protected bike lanes opened on Forbes Ave in Frick Park, a significant upgrade from the originally proposed flex-post separation.
• Concrete separation installed along the Penn Ave bike lanes in Downtown.
• From Beechview to Homewood and everywhere in between, we completed a project with DOMI that installed 500 new bike racks over the past two years.
• Our push for more Complete Streets Policies in Allegheny County expanded when Dormont became the eighth Allegheny County municipality to adopt one.
• The City of Pittsburgh relaunched their Complete Streets Advisory Group, dormant since 2019.
• We launched an awareness campaign to increase the dialogue and to get people to Stop Parking on the Sidewalks.
• We trained 25 advocates over the course of our Advocacy Training series launching 6 new campaigns for safer biking and walking ranging from traffic calming, to new bike lanes, to improvements for city steps.
• Other infrastructure wins include new bike lanes on Stanton Ave (and hopefully more on the way), a new Neighborway between the Chateau Trail and Riverview Park, and a new underpass at the  40th St Bridge, with a traffic-calming street mural in front of the library on the way!
• The City now claims close to 120 miles of on-street bike lanes and markings.
• Safe Trips in the Strip campaign makes progress! Strip District changes are coming with the city proposing four new projects to help make biking, walking, and transit better. These changes include new bike lanes on Smallman St and Penn Ave, which are currently in the draft 2024 Capital Budget

2023 Year in Review