Last month, the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) released its 2023 Shared Micromobility Report, breaking down station-based bike share and dockless e-scooter and e-bike ridership in North America in 2023 while offering recommendations on how cities can plan for the long-term viability of their systems.


Surpassing the previous record set in 2019, more people took shared micromobility trips in 2023 than in any other year.


At 157 million, total shared micromobility (SMM) trips increased by 20% over 2022, far surpassing the 2019 peak of 147 million trips. In Canada, SMM trips increased by an impressive 40% with 24 million trips in 2023. In the U.S., 133 million trips were taken last year — up 16% from 2022.

Station-based bike usage continues to increase, driven by the growing popularity of e-bikes.

The U.S. saw a total of 61 million station-based bike share trips in 2023, up from 53 million in 2022. Station-based trips taken by electric bicycle (e-bike) increased from 20 million trips in 2022 to 28 million trips in 2023, a substantial 40% growth. E-bike trips represented 46% of all station-based bike share trips. 

Canada saw a total of 20 million trips on station-based bikes in 2023, compared to 15 million in 2022. Differing from the U.S., this growth was largely due to station-based traditional (non-electric) bike rides. Canadians took 15 million trips on traditional bikes in 2023, increasing by nearly 40% from 2022.

Prices are rising, making shared micromobility more expensive compared to other public transit options, highlighting the need for accessible pricing models for every rider.

Shared micromobility riders often bear the brunt of paying sales tax on their trip, unlike other forms of public transportation. While income-based discounts offer substantial savings to those living below the federal poverty level, with the cost of living increasing for all, shared micromobility is moving further and further out of reach for working and middle class families.

Thankfully, the popularity of more-affordable annual or monthly pass options has significantly increased in recent years. Since 2019, annual pass sales have increased by 20% or more in places like Boston, Chicago, New York City, and Toronto. 


Infrastructure that supports safe bike and scooter share riding leads to increased ridership. 

It’s proven through research and practice that the build-out of connected and safe bike infrastructure motivates people to ride more. Cities that invest in safe bike infrastructure see the greatest increase in shared micromobility ridership year after year. 


A study conducted in Hamilton, Ontario, showed that increases in bicycling were greatest on concrete-barrier-protected bike lanes and other protected infrastructure on arterial streets well connected to other protected biking routes.

Public funding is vital for keeping shared micromobility programs sustainable.

The existence of shared micromobility programs continues to be threatened by financial instability. Public funding, foundation support, and longer-term sponsorships are necessary for sustainable systems. 

In the last few years, systems across the country (including Nice Ride in Minneapolis, Houston BCycle, RedBike in Cincinnati, and This Machine in Tulsa) have shut down because of a lack of sustainable funding. With these closures, it’s becoming abundantly clear that shared micromobility systems require dedicated public investment to provide stable, reliable service. 


When bike share systems first launched, few places considered it to be a form of public transportation. Cities often relied on outside operators to fund these mobility options. Now, 15 years after the first bike share system opened in North America, shared micromobility is no longer an experiment — it's a proven and vital piece of many cities' transportation systems. Unfortunately, funding is still unstable in many places. 

Shared micromobility is an essential transportation service. The Better Bike Share Partnership is taking this opportunity to highlight success stories and advocate for more support of bike and scooter share systems through increased public investment, the construction of safe and connected infrastructure, the creation of sustainable partnerships with system sponsors, and setting clear plans for long-term growth.


Last year, David Zipper highlighted the issue of expecting bike share to operate without subsidy in an article published in Fast Company. The North American Bike and Scooter Share Association has hosted webinars and industry conversations (which can be found here, here, and here) on the role local, state, and federal governments should play in funding shared micromobility. Now, we have NACTO’s 2023 report reinforcing these conversations by calling out that “it is more important than ever to secure sustainable funding models for shared micromobility programs.”


As ridership and popularity of shared micromobility only continues to grow, we must capitalize opportunities to stabilize bike and scooter share systems through sustained public investment and work with cities to safeguard the future of their shared micromobility systems. 


You can access NACTO’s full 2023 report here.


The Better Bike Share Partnership is funded by The JPB Foundation as a collaboration between the City of Philadelphia, the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO), and  PeopleForBikes to build equitable and replicable bike share systems. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, or sign up for our weekly newsletter.

NACTO’s 2023 Shared Micromobility Report Highlights Need for Partnerships and Public Investment

The Better Bike Share Partnership, a collaboration between PeopleForBikes, the City of Philadelphia, and the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO), is proud to announce its second cohort of Living Labs focused on creating replicable programs for improving shared micromobility in BIPOC and low-income communities.

A strategy launched in 2020, BBSP Living Labs are testing grounds for innovative solutions. The program helps fulfill the partnership's mission of identifying barriers to bike share and developing strategies to address those barriers. The Living Lab approach provides time, flexibility, and gives grantees the opportunity to create lasting change, specifically to make their micromobility systems more equitable by increasing access to and use of bike share. 

Learn about our previous Living Labs and their achievements.

The new cohort includes bike share systems housed in and operated by a variety of organizations and companies. They operate in mid to large-sized cities and are diverse in their system size.

City of Tucson, Arizona — Tugo Bike Share

Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority — Metro Bike Share

City of Philadelphia — Indego Bike Share

BBSP received 30 letters of interest from partnerships of cities, bike share operators, and community-based organizations looking to pilot, expand, replicate, or scale strategies and tactics to break down barriers to bike share in historically marginalized communities. 

Over the course of two and a half years, BBSP is committed to disbursing $200,000 to each Living Lab, covering costs associated with programming as well as technical support, scholarships, and travel stipends for relevant conferences. Grantees will also convene virtually every month to share learnings and build camaraderie as a cohort. Check back often as we showcase the work of each Living Lab.

Read the full press release below to learn more about each project.

Better Bike Share Partnership Announces Second Cohort of Living Lab Partners Focused on Equity

The Better Bike Share Partnership (BBSP), funded by The JPB Foundation to build equitable and replicable shared micromobility systems, is pleased to announce the selection of its second cohort of Living Labs. A collaborative between PeopleForBikes, the City of Philadelphia, and the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO), BBSP will provide four organizations with funding, support, and additional resources to develop best practices for creating access to shared micromobility and increase use of shared micromobility in historically marginalized communities. 

Each Living Lab identified barriers to bike and scooter share for BIPOC and those living on limited incomes in their cities. The organizations will spend the next two years working with local partners and community members to address these barriers.

“As a Living Lab, each grantee will have the time and flexibility to test strategies and implement new ideas so that BIPOC and lower-income communities can more easily access and use their bike share systems,” said  Tangier Barnes Wright, deputy director of shared micromobility at PeopleForBikes. “They will be part of a cohort of organizations advancing equity in shared micromobility and we look forward to learning from their work.”

Building on the work of Philadelphia — the first BBSP Living Lab city — the 2024 cohort will grow partnerships, lead with community engagement, expand already successful work, and test and refine strategies to bring bike share and historically marginalized populations together.

Here are the 2024-2026 Living Lab projects:


Through a community-led planning effort, Tugo Bike Share will collaborate with community-based organizations to determine how to reinvest resources to serve the south and west sides of Tucson more equitably. Through more equitable station siting and in-person engagement, Tugo will assess utilization rates in previously underserved areas and engage with community organizations and residents to better understand barriers to access and bike share adoption. The group will also work with partners and underserved communities to create a process that incorporates feedback, represents community needs, and builds capacity to better support and advocate for future bike share system expansion or electrification.


Equitable Outreach and Engagement in Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh’s bike share system, POGOH, will work with community partners to develop a local engagement plan to address low ridership and awareness in the Homewood neighborhood. POGOH will address barriers to biking and mobility by building connections with Homewood students and families through a youth ambassador program, community rides, learn to ride courses, and programming with Safe Routes to School. By hiring neighborhood outreach associates to engage residents in bike share expansion, POGOH will create lasting opportunities for Homewood residents of all ages and skill levels to engage in biking and bike share. POGOH’s Living Lab work will take place alongside planned system expansion over the next two years.

Community-Led Coalition for Equitable In-Fill and Expansion of

This coalition of community partners will promote local involvement and trust in bike share for communities that, for the first time, will be directly served by Metro Bike Share. Through partnerships with community-based organizations, Metro Bike Share will implement educational programming and expand outreach efforts to create a process for sustained engagement, fostering community ownership in bike share initiatives. The project scope includes pre-station siting community engagement in central and westside Los Angeles as well as service area gaps. The Living Lab work will help ensure Metro’s planned bike share expansion is achieved while centering community members and equity.  

The City of Philadelphia, in collaboration with Bicycle Transit Systems and the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia, remains steadfast in its commitment to the equitable growth of the Indego bike share program. As Indego expands, it will use community input to continue refining its engagement initiatives which currently include the Indego Community Advisory Council, local mini-grants, Wheels to Work, Indego Community Ambassadors, and bike safety education and encouragement programs. Indego’s goal is to ensure communities within their service area can access the benefits of bike share and that community members’ voices are heard.

Meet the Better Bike Share Partnership's New Living Lab Grantees

While prioritizing sustainability at conferences is not a new concept, including bike share in conference sustainability efforts is certainly less common. Thanks to our generous 2024 Bicycle Leadership Conference (BLC) sustainability sponsors Revelyst and Ortlieb, as well as Tugo Bike Share in Tucson, Arizona, PeopleForBikes is helping expand access to active transportation opportunities by providing 500 annual bike share passes to Tucson residents who qualify for Tugo’s equity pass program, TugoForAll.


The Bicycle Leadership Conference is the bike industry’s annual event where top leaders and decision makers come together to chart the course of the bike business. The event features a perfect blend of inspiration, education, and action, allowing for peer-to-peer conversations aimed at moving our industry forward. 

Tugo Bike Share is the City of Tucson’s bike share system. A docked system with more than 300 bikes, Tugo provides a sustainable option for getting around the city. The system contributes to making Tucson a thriving and accessible place for residents and visitors alike.


This year’s BLC sponsors understand the connection between sustainability and biking and their generous support is making it possible for Tugo to increase the number of BIPOC and low-income Tucsonans who can get to where they need to go without a car.

"The City of Tucson is excited and grateful to have PeopleForBikes supporting shared micromobility in Tucson. By providing this funding, the city will put more Tugo For All annual bike share passes into the hands of those who rely on low-or-no-cost mobility options to access their everyday destinations. Eliminating that initial cost barrier is a key step to ensure our bike share system can be embraced by more Tucsonans," said Ben Elias at the City of Tucson Department of Transportation and Mobility.


Better biking means accessible biking. Bike share systems across the country are leading the way creating access to bicycling by attracting, including, and serving people from diverse backgrounds. Systems like Tugo are building community engagement processes and systems that serve everyone, as well as advancing equity and sustainability through programs that make bike share nearly free for those who qualify. 

PeopleForBikes is grateful for the generosity of Revelyst and Ortlieb, our new partnership with Tugo, and the opportunity to promote sustainability at our conferences in a new and meaningful way.

This past September, as I biked the streets of Lyon, France, I was struck by the signs and signals catering to cyclists. From the small, dedicated bike traffic lights alternating between red and green to a sign indicating that bikes could turn right on a red or even go straight at an intersection, the roads were easy to navigate, even for a foreigner. This dedication to the bicycle has paid off: Yet another sign broadcasts the fact that more than 28 million bike trips have been made so far this year.

My time in Lyon was reminiscent of similar experiences I’ve had in well-known cycling cities such as Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Utrecht, and Antwerp. The city, situated close to the Swiss border and home to just over half a million people, ranks high in PeopleForBikes’ City Ratings with a score of 81 for 2023. A high score (anything from 80-100) indicates that most common destinations are accessible by safe, comfortable bike routes that serve people of all ages and abilities. 

It’s one thing to see a network map and read about what makes a city great for bicycling, and quite another to experience it firsthand. 

In Lyon, there’s an abundance of protected bike lanes — separated both from cars and pedestrians — that can accommodate two-way traffic. Greater Métropole de Lyon, which is comprised of 59 municipalities, currently has 1,200 km (745 miles) of cycling facilities, of which 450 km (279 miles) are separated from traffic. Included in that mix is the impressive 1.75 km (1 mile) Crois Rousse multi-modal tunnel built in 2009, which includes a dedicated lane for buses, a sidewalk for pedestrians, and a 3-meter wide bi-directional bike lane, with barriers separating all three.


All of this from humble beginnings, considering that for most of the 20th century, Lyon was a car-centric city. In the 1970s, the first of the city’s bike infrastructure went in, advancing at no more than a trickle until the early aughts, when progress began to noticeably ramp up. By 2005, Lyon launched its bike share system, Velo’v, and began building more bike infrastructure for people to safely use it. Lyon also curbed driving by instituting low-emissions zones, which restrict vehicles according to the city’s air pollution levels, since 2016.

Today, Lyon’s bike lane network continues to grow, thanks in large part to an ambitious $290 million program known as Les Voies Lyonnaises (“The Lyon Routes”), which on completion will consist of 12 bike roads spanning 250 km (155 miles). The overarching goal of this network is to connect Lyon’s downtown core with its satellite, suburban communities to the north, south, east, and west, making it safer and more convenient for both commuters and leisure travelers from outlying areas to get into the city safely by bike. 

As shared by Arthur Bajula, the cycle and pedestrian planning officer for Métropole de Lyon, the city currently has roughly six miles of the new Lyon Routes network built. “We plan to have a third of the project — 90 km or 55 miles — completed or under construction by the summer of 2024,” says Bajula, noting that the network also plays a role in the city’s ongoing efforts to reduce air pollution. “The idea is to strengthen alternative mobility options such as cycling… and to promote cleaner vehicles within low emission zones.”

These numbers point to something of a hockey stick model, with a slow beginning which then ramps up. This echoes the trajectory of the Green Party, which came to power in Lyon in 2020 and has dedicated much of its early years to laying the groundwork for substantial climate work. This includes goals such as reducing C02 emissions by 40%, creating thousands of new ‘green jobs,’ and securing Lyon’s place among the world’s top bike cities. 

Unsurprisingly, part of the delay can also be attributed to a handful of car-centric mayors from other Métropole de Lyon municipalities who have sought to slow down the city’s two-wheel transition.

“There’s a lot of political opposition by certain mayors who are not green,” says Pamela Vennin, project manager with Lyon’s International Relations Department, explaining that the mentality is that citizens need cars to maintain their lifestyles and rights to privacy. “They don't want the cars to have problems.”

Still, in the face of vocal opposition, the Green Party has continued to push ahead, choosing to take space from cars by instituting “road diets” — slashing four or six-lane roads with parking on each side of the street to one or two lanes, with no parking, a bike lane, and wider sidewalks. 

“Some citizens have been pushing back,” says Vennin. “But it's the political will to tackle global warming, starting with mobility.”

Despite some pushback, all signs point to the Lyonnais embracing bicycling. Within the highest traffic areas of the downtown core, protected bike lanes are commonplace. So much so that you need to make a mental note when walking about to always look both ways for bikes when crossing the street. Even in outlying areas where traffic is lighter and there’s less of a need for protected bike lanes, painted lanes with sharrows on shared streets are the norm.

Last year, 72 bike counters tallied more than 42 million trips in Lyon, reflecting the fact that over the past decade biking trips have grown by 10-15% annually. Since COVID, the pace has picked up with 15-20% year-over-year growth. Overall, bicycling has increased by an incredible 370% since 2013. 

With so many cyclists, the city is also working to actively expand its bike parking infrastructure. In 2020, Lyon had 15,000 bike racks and according to Bajulaz, the goal is to quadruple the number of bike racks to 60,000 by 2026. For secure parking, such as bike garages, the goal is to increase the number of spaces tenfold, from 1,500 in 2020 to 15,000 by 2026.

In addition to the expanding network of bike lanes and places to park, other initiatives have helped pave the way for more widespread bike adoption. For instance, the Velo’v bike share program has been a tremendous success, with 422 stations serving 22 of Greater Lyon’s municipalities and more than 10 million rentals in 2022. In my time there, stations were prevalent and obviously well-used by both tourists and locals alike.  Shared micromobility becomes even more critical when you consider that one in three residents doesn’t even own a car — a statistic underscored by the fact many locals use Velo’v for commuting. 

Lyon is also making an effort to remove financial barriers to mode shift through its bike purchasing program, whereby any city resident is eligible for a grant of up to 1,000 Euro (about $1,053) towards purchasing an e-bike, a cargo bike, a folding bike, or an adaptive bike. The city also loans some 10,000 bikes, many of them reconditioned, to students or young adults seeking jobs between the ages of 18 and 25 through its Free Velo’v program. Most unique perhaps, is Lyon’s Les Auteliers de l’Audace, a bicycle repair training and resale program that recruits residents without a job as a way to help them reintegrate into society. 	

City officials are also working to make it easier for residents to take their bikes on public transit. “It is now possible to bring your bicycle on trams outside of peak hours,” says Bajulaz, adding that bikes are also allowed on the metro, funiculars, and trains. “We are also experimenting with bringing bikes on certain buses.”

Lyon’s civic leaders remain cognizant of everyday challenges that intersect with the city’s biking experience, ranging from getting more residents on board and comfortable with biking to discouraging drivers from parking or driving on road space dedicated to bikes. Or, as I experienced firsthand during my tour, the prevalence of bikers riding too fast or aggressively, which impacts the safety of both pedestrians and other cyclists. 

Still, compared to most North American cities, Lyon is an exemplary place for bicycling. With a solid network already in place and a population that’s already attained critical mass, the city’s key players are thinking bigger. The planner Bajulaz continues to draw inspiration from other top cities while Lyon Mayor Grégory Doucet is aiming for a city that is “100% walking and cycling.”

The other challenge and opportunity is that, with just three years left in their term, the city’s ruling Green Party feels a sense of urgency to get as much biking infrastructure built as possible before the next election. The concern is that if they don’t win, opposition parties will be less willing to continue advancing the substantial cycling work already underway, or, possibly, to begin prioritizing drivers. 

For now, that outcome is hard to imagine. Biking through Lyon’s streets, some of which have been around since Roman times, one feels as if they’ve landed on the right side of history. Everywhere you turn, there are people on bikes as well as clusters of bikes parked adjacent to where residents work and play. Increasingly, there are streets with few, if any, cars.

Mark Douglas Wessel is an urban journalist and communications consultant whose writing focuses on what we can do to create a more sustainable, more liveable world. For more of his work, go to: www.markdouglaswessel.com

What It’s Like To Ride in a Top-Rated Bike City

When in Washington, D.C., Congressman Earl Blumenauer doesn't drive. That’s an incredible feat considering Blumenauer is 75 years old and has served as a Democratic representative for Oregon’s 3rd congressional district since 1996. For decades, the congressman has commuted to Capitol Hill and around town by bike, living his values while simultaneously advocating for bicycling at the national level.

During his tenure, Blumenauer founded the Congressional Bike Caucus, fought to extend commuter benefits to cyclists, and co-sponsored the introduction of the E-BIKE Act in 2021, which though it has yet to pass, has inspired a proliferation of e-bike incentives at the state level. This Congress, Blumenauer reintroduced the E-BIKE Act alongside the Bicycle Commuter Act, which would offer tax benefits to Americans commuting to work by bike, and the Sarah Debbink Langenkamp Active Transportation Act, which would unlock Highway Safety Improvement Program funding for projects that connect two pieces of safe cycling infrastructure.

Blumenauer’s efforts have also directly improved his daily commute: Over the course of two years, he successfully lobbied to get two miles of protected bike lanes built on Pennsylvania Avenue between the White House and the Capitol, a powerful symbol of integrating bicycling into our nation’s the transportation ecosystem. 

“The key for me has been to take the bicycle, the most efficient form of urban transportation ever designed, and be able to try and help people understand its power,” says Blumenauer, who regularly positions bicycling as a way to create a healthier, more sustainable, and more equitable world. “The ability to be able to make that case, to engage people, to show what a difference cycling makes — that’s something I'm very proud of.”

Blumenauer was a featured speaker at PeopleForBikes’ recent SHIFT‘23 conference in Bentonville, Arkansas. We interviewed the congressman ahead of the conference to talk about federal support for bicycling, the need to close the de minimis loophole, and — in line with this year’s conference theme — all things electric bikes.

Your focus has always been on leaving a better world for our children. Can you speak to that and how a push for bicycling makes sense in that context?

The bicycle is such a powerful tool and we need to make sure that it is integrated in both domestic and foreign policy. As I’ve said, the bicycle is the single most efficient form of transportation ever designed. It liberates young people, it costs relatively little to access, it's better for congestion, and it allows the rider to burn calories instead of fossil fuel, something that is important if we're going to fight climate change. There are also a great number of positive economic impacts.

There's so much money that is, for example, consumed parking cars. We have some estimates that there are six, eight, ten parking spaces or more for every vehicle. Those spaces give the illusion that we provide “free parking” — well, that is paid for with higher rents, more air pollution, and problems with stormwater runoff. Parking spaces cost $8,000-12,000 per parking space, and if it’s structured parking, we’re talking about $20,000-30,000 per space. “Free parking” is extraordinarily expensive.

You can easily park eight, nine, or ten bicycles in a space that would just be one car. And part of what we are finding is that people who bike are actually better customers. If you're biking at 10 or 15 miles per hour, you're more likely to pull over and explore something. You're more likely to have lunch or shop as opposed to when you're whizzing through a neighborhood at 40 miles per hour.

We know that parking reform is key to building bike-friendly cities, but I think it's hard for the average person to see the connection. How do we talk about bicycling more holistically in the context of some of our nation’s most pressing issues?

When parking is removed, that makes it much easier to finance and build affordable housing. There are so many of these elements that are ingrained in the way that we do business. Less parking means more choices and healthier air. You have to show people the impact the bicycle can have.

More bike utilization gives us a way for us to reduce the challenges for housing. It's a way to reduce congestion since every bicycle that's next to you when you pull over a stoplight is a car that’s not in front of you. Bikes provide a healthy alternative to cars and the more people take advantage of it, the more they're sold, which naturally helps build momentum.

What do you think are the chief impediments when it comes to getting people to bike in the first place?

A big part of it is having safe cycling infrastructure. Traffic safety is a huge problem in this country and the carnage on the road is really painful. The more we invest in improving that cycling infrastructure, the more people will actually use it. The bicyclist and the pedestrian are the indicator species of livable communities.

Part of what needs to happen — and I’ve been involved with this work in my congressional district in Portland — is that we need to redesign roads to be more bike-friendly. We need to lower speed limits and create bike boulevards. One of my proposals that was enacted included creating a $1 billion Safe Streets and Roads for All grant program to fund projects that help prevent death and serious injury on roads and streets.

These are things that really make a difference to individual commuters, but they also provide a sense of safety and security so that those commuters then want their family to cycle with them. And when they do, they're healthier and they're happier. They also save money and are making a difference for the health of the planet.

What are you currently working on to address these challenges?

Between the Inflation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, we’re putting in the resources to ensure local bike projects qualify for federal funds and that much-needed infrastructure gets built. There’s been a 70% increase in funding to create and maintain bike lanes and sidewalks, and we’ve also made it so that shared micromobility like bike sharing and scooter systems are eligible for federal resources. Bike infrastructure is something we’ve dramatically underinvested in in the past and there’s now more funding for it than ever before.

We've also had a proposal to allow electric vehicle charging station credit to be used for two and three-wheeled electric vehicles. There's a lot of talk about the infrastructure for electric cars, but we need the same thing for electric bikes. 

There’s also a piece of legislation that I’m going to introduce soon which would allow people to cash out on their employer-sponsored paid parking. Meaning, that if an employer gives them a free parking space, the employee has the right to take cash instead of that space. It’s about letting the employee make the choice about whether they’re going to drive, take transit, bike, or use shared micromobility — it’s about leveling the playing field so that our default isn’t unlimited free parking. 

What else is giving you hope when it comes to bicycling?

For decades, we’ve basically surrendered to the single occupancy vehicle and that’s had devastating effects on communities. With its Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhoods Grant Program, this administration is actively trying to heal communities that have been harmed by freeway projects, which have divided neighborhoods and only increased congestion. 

The new vision is a low-carbon, equitable future, which makes a big difference for people of color and low-income households who have been on the receiving end of historical harm. Part of what I hope we'll be able to make more progress on is being able to provide more cycling opportunities for low-income and people of color.

I’ve also been watching with delight some of the work that's being done around the country to broaden the range of people who are involved in bicycling. Whether that’s by putting diverse faces in cycling leadership positions or companies focusing on equity. It's making a difference and there's more that we can do going forward.

Electric bicycles are outselling analog bikes and electric cars, and it seems like every state is coming out with an incentive program of its own. How are e-bikes changing the conversation around bicycling in the U.S.?

An e-bike makes any cyclist into a bike commuter — the barrier to entry is so low, you can immediately begin cycling. There are a number of people I know whose second car is an e-cargo bike so that they can shop and schlep the kids around. We also see more and more companies looking to e-cargo bikes for deliveries. It makes a huge difference to congestion in our communities and to the environment.

It's really remarkable what an e-bike does in terms of ease, in terms of safety, and in terms of dealing with challenging geography. It has also been remarkable watching the number of people now who are using e-bikes, who got introduced to them with bike share.

I must admit, I was a little bit of a snob, holding out on buying an e-bike. But a recent vacation I took had me cycling in areas that were challenging for me on a conventional bike. The next day I took an e-bike and it was magic. So I am a fan. I'm planning on getting my e-bike this fall.

Do you think there’s still hope for a federal e-bike incentive?

I think we have an excellent chance at some point but nothing much is passing in this Congress. We're just trying to hold on to what we passed in the last Congress and get it implemented. But I think the handwriting is on the wall: E-bikes are extraordinarily popular, and they’re expensive for low and moderate-income people. An e-bike tax credit is a way to avoid that.

Many low-quality, uncertified e-mobility products are coming into the U.S. under ‘de minimis,’ the regulatory loophole that allows products under $800 to be imported without being inspected, taxed, or forced to adhere to safety standards. Can you speak to the Import Security and Fairness Act and how it aims to close this loophole?

Over two million packages arrive in the United States that are directly shipped to consumers, uninspected, and untaxed. Oftentimes, we're quite confident they’ve used forced labor. Of these packages, we also have inferior quality e-bike batteries coming in, which have been catching fire.

We're working hard to make sure that we close the de minimis loophole so that countries that are not market economies and are on the watch list do not qualify. People recognize the inequity of the loophole and there’s more interest in closing it from businesses. I think that's a very, very good sign.

Is there anything else you’d like to leave us with?

I don't believe that we have to declare war on the automobile, but we also don't have to surrender to it. There are all these little tiny decisions that we collectively make to prioritize cars, which are not really little tiny decisions when you multiply them by hundreds of thousands of times across the country. We need to move away from cars shaping our communities towards communities being able to shape the vision they have for the future. 

Congressman Blumenauer Is Bicycling’s Biggest Advocate

Paul Van Dyk was born and raised in Long Beach, California, never living more than a mile outside of the city’s limits. When it came time to attend college — at California State University, Long Beach — he decided to study traffic engineering, driven by a longtime love of cars. Van Dyk was eventually hired on by the Long Beach Public Works Department, where he has worked as an engineer for more than a decade.

“After being tasked with the design of bike facilities, I started riding a bike to and from work and fell in love with the principles of living in a 15-minute city,” says Van Dyk, who was recently promoted to the position of city traffic engineer. “My work is now trying to expand that type of lifestyle to the entire city, so folks can bike or walk to a grocery store or school or the dentist or wherever around town.”

Van Dyk’s conversion from car to bike lover isn’t so surprising — Long Beach has the year-round sunny, warm weather California is known for and there are few things as joyful as riding a bike near the coast. As early as 2012, Van Dyk saw an opportunity to bring bike share to Long Beach to help make bicycling more accessible to visitors and locals alike. While it was still the early days of shared micromobility, the nearby city of Fullerton already had a bike share pilot and Van Dyk and his team took notes with their own system in mind. In 2016, in partnership with CycleHop, the city launched Long Beach Bike Share with 10 stations and 100 bikes. 

About a year and a half later, seeking more unilateral control over the program, the city took ownership of the operation of the bike share system. Since August 2017, the city has owned and operated the program with the assistance of Pedal Movement, a Long Beach-based operator that oversees maintenance and rebalancing services for the pedal-powered system. Under this operational model, Long Beach Bike Share has expanded considerably, refurbishing more than 500 bikes from now-defunct systems and more than doubling its fleet size and geographic reach. 

“The bike share system has been complimentary to our rollout of infrastructure — they leverage one another,” says Van Dyk. “If we're trying to promote our bike share hubs somewhere, we'd better make sure that we have a bike boulevard or protected bikeway that gets people to that ultimate destination.”

For example, the rollout of bike share at Cal State Long Beach wouldn't have been possible without protected bike lanes on the campus arterials and bike boulevard projects that move folks from downtown to campus safely. Since the city oversees bike share as a public service, its integration with safe places to ride just makes sense. It also means that as bike share has expanded outside of the more tourist-heavy parts of the city, infrastructure has too. 

When Long Beach Bike Share was first deployed, it was primarily concentrated mostly in the southern half of the city, an area that includes the downtown core, coastline, and access to the local light rail. In the last few years, however, city planners have shifted their focus to making bike share a primary commute option that equitably serves all community members. That means expanding the system’s footprint into the more underserved area of North Long Beach and Central Long Beach.

“Having now deployed throughout the city, we are analyzing the gaps in our network in order to better serve disadvantaged communities,” says Van Dyk, explaining that in places without sufficient sidewalks, that might mean adding in-street docking stations. “In the past, we’ve been limited to places with park space, so we’re moving now towards an in-street paradigm which gives us more flexibility.”

As a way to complement the system expansion and grow use among low-income residents, the city recently launched Bike Share For All. The program, which is funded through the Long Beach Recovery Act, provides qualifying applicants with $5/year memberships, which include up to three hours of ride time each day (a standard annual membership costs $15/month or $120/year and includes 90 minutes of daily ride time). 

To qualify, applicants must provide proof of enrollment in one of 16 various local, state, or federal assistance programs, which include food assistance, state financial aid for students, and veterans benefits. Interested community members can sign up online or in person and are able to pay in cash. Members without smartphones can also receive a tap card to unlock bikes, available upon request during the application process.

As part of a larger effort to break down barriers to use, Long Beach Bike Share has removed out-of-hub parking fees for mid-trip stops. For example, if you check out a bike from a hub, go to the grocery store, and then return the bike to a hub at the end, you won’t be charged. Additionally, Bike Share for All members will receive a warning call before they’re ever fined.

“Our libraries don't collect fines and we really wanted to adopt a more user-friendly model for bike share, similar to a library,” says Van Dyk. “I really consider these bikes to be a public amenity, almost like a book we want people to lend back and forth.”

Inspired by low-income bike share programs in Philadelphia and New York City, Long Beach’s main concern when designing Bike Share For All was to make sure the cost was affordable and that everyone could use it. While marketing materials are already available in the city’s four most common languages — English, Spanish, Khmer, and Tagalog — Van Dyk says that the plan is to conduct more targeted community outreach around Bike Share For All in the upcoming year. 

“We plan to build relationships in the year to come, partnering with local community organizations that connect us to those who would benefit the most,” says Van Dyk, adding that a collaborative advocacy environment is also crucial when it comes to implementing bike infrastructure. “We also have a youth climate core intern on staff and he'll be deployed as a Bike Share For All ambassador this summer, performing some in-person engagement throughout the city.”

Long Beach city staff has found that whenever they do conduct community outreach, people consistently ask for the same thing: More protected bike lanes. The city has responded with an ambitious Bicycle Master Plan, which by 2040 will bring an all-ages and abilities network to every Long Beach neighborhood. Once completed, Long Beach will be one of the safest bicycling cities in America, with protected bike facilities on every single one of its arterial streets.

The challenge thus far has been balancing that vision with other priorities, including rail and pedestrian amenities. This year, the city is taking yet another step in the right direction by creating its own Street Design Guide for engineers. The goal of the design guide is to connect all relevant departments around a shared vision that ties into the city’s Bike Master Plan, Vision Zero work, and sustainability commitments. So every time a road is repaved, planners will have to account for a variety of considerations from what species of trees to include to where a bike share hub will go. 

“We’re equipping our staff, whether they’re engineers, planners, or interns, to have a street design guide that lays out all of these considerations,” says Van Dyk, adding that engineers especially need a toolbook to draw from. “We’re overhauling our project implementation to put people first and create more opportunities for 15-minute lifestyles.”

Long Beach’s City Ratings score hovers in the 30s, a ways off from a score of 50, the benchmark for safe, convenient places to bike. Still, the city is committed to making bicycling safe, convenient, and accessible for all. Crucially, there’s also political will amongst Long Beach’s electeds, including a city council that wants to see 30% bicycle mode share by 2040 and Vision Zero in a decade. At the national level, Rep. Robert Garcia, a California Democrat and the former mayor of Long Beach, introduced a bill that would eliminate parking minimums, a crucial step in creating better cities for bicycling. 

Currently, Long Beach offers more than 150 miles of bike paths, bicycle boulevards, and separated bike lanes, about 50% of the 300 miles the Bike Master Plan calls for. While there’s a lot of work ahead, the city is well-positioned to see it through. Indispensable to meeting its goal is Long Beach Bike Share, which will not only make bicycling an option for casual cyclists or those with limited means but will help spread the gospel of bicycling by making it ubiquitous on city streets.

“Over the past few decades, it's been easy to be in a bubble, whether it's inside of your personal vehicle or in a social media space — bikes are such a great antidote to that,” says Van Dyk. “Bicycles humanize a city and make it a place of community, where you can turn your head and greet a person, engaging with the city at that tactile level. That's something that we just really want to share with people.” 

Bike Share Boosts Long Beach's Bikeability for All

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