Blogs
A CONVERSATION WITH THE NATIONAL YOUTH BIKE COUNCIL
Although issues of mobility justice are keenly experienced by young people, their voices are often missing in advocacy and bicycle industry conversations. To address this lack of representation, The National Youth Bike Council gives voice to young cyclists and hosts The National Youth Bike Summit.
We sat down with organization President, Joshua Funches, and his brother, Lot Funches, to learn more about how young people can get involved and how bike advocacy groups can best support them.
The Intersection of Two Movements: Poverty Abolitionist + Sustainable Transportation
Give this Matthew Desmond interview a listen, and consider reading the book which calls on everyone to become a poverty abolitionist to give more people more dignified lives and make us all happier.
BikePGH Book Club – The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together
Here’s why you should add NYT bestselling book The Sum of Us, by Hearther McGhee, to your reading list.
Click here to read the full article
Nearly 90 Organizations Call for USDOT and DOJ to Cease Support of Pretextual Traffic Stops
Tyre Nichols’ murder began with a pretextual traffic stop. This practice disproportionately harms Black people, and it must end.
How Investing In Biking and Walking Mobility Help People’s Economic Mobility
Bike Pittsburgh’s mission is to make biking and walking commonplace for all Pittsburghers, and in order to make biking and walking commonplace, there need to be safe and accessible methods for getting to and from home, work, the park, medical care, and all the other places people need to go each and every day.
Community Spotlight Series: Sankofa Village
Sankofa Village is a Community Garden in Homewood with the goal of eradicating the Food Apartheid that exists within our communities, and o create communities where every child, adult, and senior does not have to leave their communities to get fresh produce, jobs, or education.
They have expanded to providing bikes and bike education to the community.
Why Transportation Justice Matters
Inequities in transportation are caused by many things but can be boiled down to be the result of many institutions, organizations, systems, and people’s actions and inactions, over time, to make decisions that do not put people first, especially those who are the most affected by these decisions – people of color and low income folks. Over the years these decisions have clearly enabled some people to have better access to essentials like jobs, housing, and food and has segregated others from these same resources, systematically leaving them out of the same opportunities.
Community Spotlight Series: Pittsburgh Youth Leadership
This month we interviewed Mark Rubenstein President of Pittsburgh Youth Leadership to learn more about his mentorship program.
Voting Access and Mobility
People who do not have access to a vehicle, who depend on public transportation, and those with disabilities will have a harder time voting in this local election – an election where their votes can make even more of a difference towards improving local transportation infrastructure.
Safe Routes to School are Needed for our most Vulnerable Commuters
As The Pittsburgh Post Gazette recently reported, due to the ongoing shortage of school bus drivers, many more Pittsburgh Public School students will be required to walk or bike to school this fall than in years past and cover greater distances. This local issue highlights a national problem and a worrisome trend.
Native Americans and Black People Are Disproportionately Killed in Traffic Crashes. The Pandemic Exacerbated the Problem.
Every year in America more than 30,000 people are killed in crashes on our nation’s roads. Unfortunately, there’s currently no way of knowing how bad the problem is here in Pennsylvania because PennDOT does not track the race/ethnicity of those killed in traffic crashes.
The Importance of Land Acknowledgements
It is now becoming more commonplace to open public events and gatherings by acknowledging the original inhabitants of that land. As the practice becomes more widely adopted, more people can learn the names of the tribes and nations whose land we are on.
Land acknowledgements are a simple, yet powerful way of showing respect for those who lived on the land before us. It is a part of reconciliation, a step toward correcting the practices that erase Indigenous peoples’ stories and perspectives.
Alternatives to Traffic Enforcement by Police
While some think of police enforcement as the only tool for traffic enforcement, the reality is that there are many solutions to reduce traffic fatalities and serious injuries on our streets that don’t involve armed officers. Self-enforcing streets, among other solutions, prevent traffic violence by making it hard to drive aggressively and provide space for all street users. Until our streets are truly self-enforcing, it’s crucial that the City of Pittsburgh considers alternatives to armed police enforcing traffic laws. Cities across the country are grappling with how to do this, and we wanted to hear from one city that is leading the way.
Transportation Justice Learning Series: Cycling Industry Pledge Survey Key Findings
In September 2020, we wrote a post about how BikePGH signed on to the Radical Adventure Riders or RAR (formerly called WTF Bikexplorers) Cycling Industry Pledge and urged others to sign on as well.
“Signing the Cycling Industry Pledge means being a part of a conscious collective dedicated to positive social change in the cycling community. When you join the CIP Network, you are holding yourself accountable, and asking the cycling community to help you hold yourself to a higher standard of inclusion.”
Revolution: How Women Changed The World On Two Wheels
What if we told you the history of bicycling is an empowering story of rebellious women and their long battle for equal rights? Believe it or not, the bicycle played an important role in women’s empowerment.
Transportation Justice Learning Series: Segregated by Design
In 2020 a number of BikePGH staff members read the book, The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by historian and author Richard Rothstein.
The goal of our reading groups is to not only expand our personal knowledge but to create a space, internally, to have difficult conversations, examine ourselves as an organization, and start on an intentional path of becoming an anti-racist organization.
Community Spotlight Series: Major Force Youth Cycling Program
This month we interviewed Dawna Bivins, Resource Coordinator, and Melissa Audain-Pickett, Education Coordinator of Major Force Youth Cycling Program. In 2015 our Major Force Youth Cycling Program (MFYCP) was started by past Pittsburgh Major Taylor Cycling Club President Bruce Woods. It has continued to grow and become a vibrant part of the Pittsburgh cycling community.
Community Spotlight Series: Hugh Lane Wellness Foundation
This is the latest installment of our new Community Spotlight Series, which aims to highlight the incredible work being done here in Pittsburgh to uplift our communities and promote equity and inclusion in cycling. HLWF is missioned to improve the health of the LGBTQ+ and HIV communities in Western PA. They accomplish their mission by providing resources and direct services to our communities while advocating and educating the broader region we live in so that all our community members can thrive.
Pedestrians deserve safe, clear, and unobstructed sidewalks
For as vital as sidewalks are, there is no coordinated city effort to maintain them, unlike our streets. As a result, tree roots have made many uneven, time has reduced many to rubble, and in the winter many are not cared for. And this state of disrepair leaves many of our sidewalks dangerous to use, and our most vulnerable neighbors more isolated.
Community Spotlight Series: Robin L Woods of Black Girls Do Bike
BikePGH’s Community Spotlight Series aims to highlight the incredible work being done here in Pittsburgh to uplift our communities and promote equity and inclusion in cycling. This month we interviewed Robin L Woods of Black Girls Do Bike (BGDB) Pittsburgh. At the Pittsburgh Chapter of BGDB, Robin is working to encourage women of color to begin their cycling routine by trusting in an organization that will ultimately make them a better cyclist through group cycling and educational processes that highlights safety first.”
Transportation Justice Learning Series: 8 Books to Develop Anti-Racism Work in for Biking in Pittsburgh
Our staff and board members are majority white and we know that it isn’t the responsibility of the Black and Brown people on our staff and board to educate or inform the rest of us. We’ve started holding discussion groups based on books we want to read related to equity, inclusion, and representation. The goal of these groups is to not only expand our personal knowledge but to create a space, internally, to have difficult conversations, examine ourselves as an organization, and start on an intentional path of becoming an anti-racist organization. Click here to read the full article
Interview with Mike White, Founder of the Ruach Bicycle Club
BikePGH’s Community Spotlight Series aims to highlight the incredible work being done here in Pittsburgh to uplift our communities and promote equity and inclusion in cycling. This month we interviewed Mike White, founder of the Ruach Bicycle Club. The Ruach Bicycle Club is a STEM based Bike Club that focuses on science, technology, engineering, and math skills and how it all works in bikes.
Reforming Public Safety As It Relates to Transportation
Traffic stops are subject to bias, and are one of the primary ways people encounter law enforcement. It will take all levels of government to change this.
Transportation Justice Learning Series: Supporting Anti-racist work in PGH
In a time of social isolation, it can be hard to know what each of us can do, as individuals, to support the work of the anti-racist movement in Pittsburgh.
Personal health and safety are important to consider, don’t do anything that makes you feel unsafe or puts yourself or others in unsafe situations. Remember, it’s a marathon, not a sprint. Start by committing to one or two ideas from this list and build from there.
Transportation Justice Learning Series: WTF Cycling Industry Pledge
We know that cycling is a male-dominated industry. We know that organizations are often catering to male cyclist. We also know there’s a lack of representation for diverse riders. These are all barriers to accessing bicycling for many people. We can change that dynamic, here in our own community by supporting efforts such as the WTF Bikexploreers Cycling Industry Pledge. Holding our local bike community to these standards, pushing ourselves to expand who we serve, and improve representation will build community! And in a city like Pittsburgh with consistent public tension around bike lanes and cyclists in general, we need more people to feel that they belong in this greater community. Click here to read the full article
The Role of Bike Marshals
At the Civil Saturdays protests, organized by the group, Black, Young, & Educated, and other Black Lives Matter protests here in Pittsburgh, bike marshals provide a buffer between police and cars and protesters so the organizers can focus on delivering their message. Learn more about how Bike Marshals help keep people safe, and have been part of sanctioned and unsanctioned demonstrations for a long time. Click here to read the full article
Enforcement is no longer part of BikePGH’s strategy for safer streets
We’ve learned that enforcement is not an effective strategy to improve roadway safety when people of color and people with disabilities are disproportionately targets of the police. We cannot in good conscience promote enforcement as a solution to street safety for bicyclists and pedestrians.
From the Archives
- Race, Public Space, and Public Safety
- Black Girls Do Bike: Q & A with Monica Garrison
- Major Taylor: Champion Cyclist and Model Citizen
- Race, Space, and Equity in Cycling
- The Underground Railroad Bike Route
- Ayesha McGowan Q&A: Breaking Barriers For Women Of Color In Cycling
- The 25th Infantry Bicycle Corps
NEWSLETTER