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Friday, May 15th, 2015
Contact:
Renee Rivera
Executive Director
Bike East Bay
Cell: 415 252 5617
Office: 510-845-7433
Renee@bikeeastbay.org
BikeEastBay.org/BTWD
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Bike to Work Day Defeats the Rain, Takes
East Bay by Storm
Oakland, CA (May 14, 2015) – Even though the weather threatened to rain on their parade, thousands of bicyclists participated yesterday in the Bay Area’s 21st annual Bike to Work Day celebration. Recent years have seen an exceptional growth in the popularity of Bike to Work Day, as well as bike commuting overall in the East Bay. Close to 17,000 bicyclists have already been counted with Energizer Stations still reporting, and thousands more attended Bike to Work Day celebrations in the evening.
Bike East Bay (formerly the East Bay Bicycle Coalition) has been promoting the event since its inception by organizing Energizer Stations that support bike commuters with snacks, coffee and giveaways; and by hosting “Bike Happy Hours” at the end of the day. "Bike to Work Day is our favorite day of the year because we see so many people try biking for the first time. Once people try a healthy active commute many change their habits to make biking to work, school or play a regular part of their routine," said Renee Rivera, Executive Director of Bike East Bay. And we love putting smiles on the faces of the tens of thousand of people who bike every day in the East Bay by rewarding them with some extra goodies on Bike to Work Day. As our Warriors say there is 'strength in numbers.' At Bike East Bay we are working to make every day Bike to Work Day as having so many people on bikes makes biking and walking safer for everyone."
Highlights from Bike to Work Day
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This year’s event took things to the next level by incorporating some advanced advocacy work in the mix. With three Protected Bikeway Demonstrations in three cities (Berkeley, Castro Valley and Fremont), bicyclists experienced the next generation of bikeways in addition to riding to work. These temporary bikeways were created with removable street striping and barriers, simulating designs for potential permanent protected bike lanes.
City officials including Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates, Alameda County Supervisor Nate Miley, and Mayor Morten Kabell of Copenhagen visited these Protected Bikeway Demonstrations. "It's great to see Berkeley demonstrating a protected bike lane, like our cycle paths in Copenhagen," said the Mayor from Copenhagen, Bike East Bay's guest on Bike to Work Day. "We have found in Denmark that it takes protected facilities on the streets people use to get more people bicycling."
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Pictured: Copenhagen Mayor Morten Kabel speaks at the Milvia St Protected Bikeway Demonstration with Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates.
In addition to being good conversation pieces, the demos can have a long-lasting impact. Bike East Bay’s 2014 pop up demo on Telegraph Avenue played an important role in ensuring that protected bikeways were included in the street’s final redesign. Commuters can look forward to the plan coming to life this summer, and Bike East Bay plans to continue pushing for protected bikeways across the East Bay.
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In Castro Valley, Bike East Bay's local working group Bike Walk CV set up a second pop up bikeway demo by the high school. Bike to School Day in Alameda County overall was a success this year, with over 2,200 students bicycling, 460 scootering and 178 skateboarding. Even Castro Valley High's principal, Blaine Torpey, rode to work with his students. Bike to School Day has grown into its own event in the past couple years, with events happening throughout Bike Month - official numbers will be reported out soon.
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(Pictured above, clockwise from top left: energizer stations in Walnut Creek, West Oakland BART, Arizmendi on Lakeshore in Oakland, and Castro Valley). The increasing popularity of Bike to Work Day in the East Bay can be seen as part of a larger trend: commute data shows bicycling tripling in Oakland since 2000. The Oakland metro area now stands as a top 5 metro area in the nation for bike commuting, with over 4% of all commuters going to their jobs and school by bike. In Berkeley, an impressive 10% of commuters ride bikes, ranking Berkeley in the top four compared with all US cities. The City of Alameda has also more than doubled its bike commuters since 2006.
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Mayor Pauline Cutter of San Leandro, rode to work on Bike to Work Day, stopping by the city's own energizer station at BART. Overall the City of San Leandro saw a 20% increase in number of bicyclists counted compared to last year.
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In Pleasanton, Councilmember Jerry Pentin biked by the West BART station, and Supervisor Scott Haggerty stopped by the East BART station with Pleasanton Mayor Thorne. With three new stations this year, Pleasanton's bike counts were up 113% from 2013 and 33% from 2014.
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Richmond, pictured above, had another great year this Bike to Work Day, with city staff reporting back that "The Richmond Greenway energizer station counted 83 bikes, 1 tricycle, 210 peds, 2 strollers, 11 skateboards, & 14 dogs." Councilmember Gayle McLaughlin biked to work and visited a station, and Councilmember Jovanka Beckles volunteered at another.
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Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf voiced her support for the flourishing bike movement in her city. “Oakland has long been a city where people want to bicycle, and we’ve made great strides accommodating that demand," said the mayor. "We have doubled the mileage of bike lanes in Oakland since 2007. The number of bicycle commuters has doubled. We have the seventh highest rate of bicycle commuting in the nation. As Mayor, I am committed to make bicycling in Oakland safer and easier, not just on Bike to Work Day, but every day."
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The city of Oakland has 4 miles of new bikeways already planned for 2015, with more in the works in the bike plan.
Brentwood, a Bronze level bicycle friendly community, has grown participation in Bike to Work Day tremendously and counted close to 300 bicyclists at 3 stations, up 40% from 2014.
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The City of Emeryville hosted another great car-free Bike to Work Day, hauling all of their bags by bike (as pictured above) thanks to volunteers and their partners, Pedal Express.
In addition, Revolights and BikeIndex partnered up to host a free bike registration station at 46th and Adeline in Emeryville. They were able to record and register 50+ cyclists' bikes during the station times. Photos of participating cyclist will be posted on Revolights Flickr account as well as inputted into the registry.
Bike Away From Work, too
Thousands of bicyclists congregated on the eve of Bike to Work Day at celebrations in Oakland, Berkeley, Concord and Alameda.
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Contra Costa Supervisor Karen Mitchoff presented advocates with a county-wide Bike to Work Day proclamation at a street event with live music in Concord. Free face painting and the presence of Snell, Sustainable Contra Costa, Wheel Kids and more made this a perfect ending for Bike to Work Day.
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At the Berkeley Sports Basement, Rock the Bike brought bike-powered music to a stage for Planet Booty. New Belgium's photobooth was a popular (pictures are up here). Bike East Bay recognized the winners of this year's Bike Friendy Business Awards - Alameda County GSA, Jay Marlette Home Inspection, and Rich City Ride - and Bike Commuters of the year - Gail Lillian, owner of Liba Falafel, and Eric Odell from Richmond - at both events.
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