We are developing recommendations on chemical management and a restricted substances list to mitigate risk, and best practices for packaging, waste and end of life issues, climate action and supply chain social responsibility for the industry.

We advance policy mechanisms that streamline bike projects to meet sustainability goals, and  recommend leveraging bikes as a part of the greater solution to climate change, including reinstating and expanding bicycle commuter benefits, funding carbon reduction programs and conducting resiliency planning.

We support congestion pricing and emissions-related penalties as new revenue for transportation program. We are working to be a part of the planning process for short- and long-term transit plans, and pursue bike connections to transit nodes that bring greater mobility value to both systems.

Electric bicycle use is growing rapidly. We are assisting the industry in compliance with electric bicycle battery recycling regulations and vetting downstream recyclers to ensure the batteries are properly managed at their end of life.

Bicycling can play an important role in emergency preparedness plans. We are developing a framework for how bicycling can be incorporated into future disaster preparedness, and advocating for infrastructure that supports these plans, leveraging bikes as a FEMA response by pursuing disaster response provisions outlined in federal bills.

PeopleForBikes’ Legislative Guide for Safe and Connected Bike Infrastructure, a component of our Great Bike Infrastructure Project, is a valuable resource for elected officials and local advocates, showcasing the most effective ways to advance bike infrastructure through state and local legislation. To help build more bikeable communities across the U.S., we’ve already explored the how and why behind funding bike infrastructure and mandating Complete Streets policies. In the latest edition of our blog series, we’re reviewing the third legislative strategy to create great places to ride — advancing bike infrastructure through climate legislation. 

The construction of bike infrastructure can play a powerful role in states’ climate policy agendas. With more state-level support behind the construction of bike infrastructure, more people will replace car trips with bike rides, reducing transportation-related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the process. 

In the U.S., transportation is the highest emitter of GHGs at 29%, with most of those emissions (57%) coming from passenger cars and light-duty trucks (pickups and SUVs). More bike infrastructure can not only drastically reduce dependence on using vehicles for transportation by making bicycling a safe and attractive choice for people, but it also carries a host of economic, equity, health, and safety-related benefits that support thriving communities. 


Why should states include bike infrastructure in their plans to address climate change?


Bike infrastructure reduces greenhouse gas emissions by reducing vehicle miles traveled. Fifty-three percent of car trips made in the U.S. are three miles or less, and 28% are one mile or less. Transitioning close-to-home trips from cars to bicycles is possible and can significantly reduce the number of miles driven in personal vehicles.

Electrifying vehicles is essential, but it’s not enough. Reports from California, Hawaii, and Minnesota show that states must reduce vehicle miles traveled (VMT) to meet GHG reduction goals. Even with the most optimistic assumptions about electric vehicle adoption, GHG emissions from cars remain too high without reductions in use. 

Active transportation infrastructure expands equitable access to low-cost, sustainable forms of transportation. Studies show that it is six times more expensive to travel by car than by bicycle.


How are states prioritizing bike infrastructure within their climate agendas?


There is a growing policy movement among states (including California, Colorado, and Minnesota) that not only sets GHG reduction targets but also makes requirements to evaluate large-scale transportation projects based on their potential GHG emissions. If a project does not fit within the states’ GHG reduction goals, they either have to modify the project, cancel it, or integrate low-polluting projects such as infrastructure for bikes or transit. 


This policy framework is already successfully shifting money away from high-polluting transportation projects and saving states’ money in the long run. 

Thanks to Colorado’s GHG rule, the state has already shifted $1.5 billion from road expansions to multimodal projects, with $900 million dedicated to expanding bike, walk, and transit networks. 


In 2024, three states (Illinois, New York, and Maryland) proposed similar legislation, and this trend is not expected to slow down. This useful policy tool allows states to meet their GHG reduction goals and helps them re-envision their transportation systems to ones that are safe, equitable, and convenient for all road users. 


What should states consider when prioritizing bike infrastructure within climate legislation?

Include specific VMT reduction targets. Communities cannot meet GHG reduction targets solely through electric vehicles without also reducing the miles those vehicles travel. 

Prioritize expenditures — like bike infrastructure — that provide co-benefits. Replacing short, gas-powered car trips with electric car trips may reduce GHG emissions, but it won’t provide the health, economic, safety, and happiness benefits that replacing those trips with bicycles will. 

Prioritize investments in traditionally disinvested and marginalized communities to help redress past inequities. 

Establish strict requirements for accurate reporting to measure and track the impact of various strategies relative to goals. 

Include transparent accountability measures that allow the public to ensure compliance.

Include electric bicycle (e-bike) incentive programs. Several U.S. states and cities have passed e-bike incentive programs to lower transportation-related GHG emissions. To learn more about e-bike incentive programs, check out our E-Bike Incentive Toolkit.

If you are a bicycle advocate, policymaker, or a community leader, PeopleForBikes wants to help make it easy to champion the inclusion of bike infrastructure in your state’s climate plan. To learn more about the best talking points and access resources and policy examples to advance bike infrastructure through climate legislation, check out our resources below:


Watch our webinar recording on this topic

Review our Legislative Guide for Safe and Connected Bike Infrastructure 

Read our Supplemental Guide for Advancing Bike Infrastructure through Climate Legislation which includes data-backed talking points to help you advocate for change in your community 

Advancing Bike Infrastructure Through Climate Legislation

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

PeopleForBikes’ latest initiative, The Great Bike Infrastructure Project, is an ambitious program aimed at transforming communities across the United States by championing pro-bike policies and launching thousands of bike infrastructure projects. The goal of the project is to create safer and more accessible biking opportunities for everyone.

This visionary program comprises three vital components:

1. The implementation of thousands of bike projects

3. Significant investments in local communities 

In this four-part blog series, "A Legislative Playbook to Build More Bikeable Communities," we’ll dive into the legislative arm of our new program, exploring policies that promote safe, complete bike networks while also highlighting states and municipalities that are successfully putting these policies into action.

The policy pillars that make up The Great Bike Infrastructure Project’s legislative arm are outlined in the program’s Legislative Guide. Designed to aid policymakers and advocates in expanding local bike infrastructure for transportation and recreation, this comprehensive guide outlines four highly effective legislative solutions to accelerate the construction of safe and connected biking infrastructure. 

The key strategies featured in the guide include:

Funding for Bike Infrastructure: While there is an unprecedented amount of federal funding available for bike infrastructure, state and local funding are essential to propel more projects forward. Local funding also provides the 20-50% local match required for most federal grants. Our guide offers examples of more than a dozen different state and local funding mechanisms for bike infrastructure, ranging from Tax Increment Financing districts to sales tax revenue and everything in between.


Mandating Complete Streets: The implementation of Complete Streets mandates is a pivotal strategy for advancing bike infrastructure. Complete Streets ensure that all road users — including pedestrians, cyclists, public transit users, and drivers — have safe and accessible ways to reach their destinations. Our guide provides examples of legislation that includes strong and specific requirements for creating Complete Streets, including language that allows for limited exceptions and denotes clear roles and responsibilities to make mandates effective.


Advancing Bike Infrastructure Through Climate Legislation: Our guide underscores how state and local climate legislation can facilitate the construction of bike projects. By including bike infrastructure in climate legislation, communities can help reduce vehicle miles traveled and greenhouse gas emissions, ultimately delivering significant environmental and fiscal benefits. We highlight examples of climate legislation in Minnesota, Washington, Rhode Island, and Hawaii, showcasing the most effective components.


Creating Safer Places to Ride: Ensuring streets are safe for cyclists is paramount to encouraging the adoption of bicycling for both transportation and recreation. Our guide emphasizes several strategies for local communities and states to achieve safer streets, including measures to reduce traffic speeds, ban right turns on red, and adopt modern design standards.

In this blog series, we will provide in-depth insights into each of these legislative strategies and demonstrate where we are already witnessing success stories. Promoting safe and connected places to ride remains our overarching goal to get more people on bikes.

Our work at PeopleForBikes to advance bike riding across the U.S. relies heavily on our local advocacy partners in all 50 states. If you are actively involved in improving bike infrastructure in your community, we would love to hear from you and discuss how PeopleForBikes can support your efforts. Please reach out to us at info@peopleforbikes.org. Together, we can make biking safer and more accessible for all.

A Legislative Playbook to Build More Bikeable Communities

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

In the most bicycle-friendly cities in Europe, women ride their bikes for transportation in nearly equal proportions to men. In the Netherlands, women bike more than men. Unfortunately, that’s not true in the United States, where women account for just 28% of bike commuters according to the 2019 American Community Survey. Are American women different, with less tolerance for risk than their European counterparts? Or are American streets just that much more dangerous? 

Earlier this month,  the temporary city in the Black Rock desert of northern Nevada, built by participants of the annual Burning Man festival, provided an ideal experiment to show what could happen in an American city with a bicycle-centric transportation system. Over the course of a week, about 70,000 people coalesce in roughly three square miles, a population density similar to central Minneapolis. For years, its residents have found that bicycling is the best way to get around the city. 

According to traffic counts at this year’s festival, people on bikes made up 86% of traffic. (For those curious, about one-fifth of those were e-bikes or other electric devices like skateboards). Although there were plenty of cars (almost one per minute), they traveled slowly, barely over the 5 mph speed limit. Nobody was afraid of getting hit by a car, even though there was not a bike lane or a traffic control device in the entire city. 

With so many bikes and safe, but chaotic, interactions among bicyclists and between bicyclists and cars, the streets of this “American” city looked much like the streets of Amsterdam — albeit with a lot more sand and mud. 

And regarding gender? American women are no different than Dutch women, at least when it comes to transportation choice. In Black Rock City, ridership among women was roughly equal to or even greater than ridership among men. While attendees identifying as female only accounted for 42% of the population, they accounted for 45% of the bicycle riders. It was a revelation for many women. Qualitative surveys conducted by the Burning Man census team discovered that women mentioned “bicycles” about four times more than men in open-ended questions about what they remember as special from Burning Man. 

Another amazing impact of slow car traffic is that people hardly noticed them. Cars, including small electric “cars” such as golf carts, were essential to the functioning of the city. They included golf carts for people with disabilities, heavy machinery for servicing camps and latrines, and government pickup trucks and squad cars. When asked to estimate how many cars were sharing the roads with them as they biked, participants drastically underestimated the number of cars. Most were surprised that as many as 42 cars per hour traveled on the roads with them. 

Black Rock City shows the massive potential of centering bicycling in a city’s transportation system:

It provides unprecedented mobility for women, who will bike as much as men if the streets are safe. 

Nearly everyone (17 out of 20, in this case) will choose bicycling if it’s safe and the fastest way to get around town. 

Making the streets safe means protecting people from cars.

Limiting the number of cars and reducing speeds allows for an efficient transportation system without the need for lanes, signs, or signals. 

Black Rock City shows that Americans of all genders are happy to rely on bicycling if it’s safe. Yes, the temporary city in the desert has the advantage of being built from scratch, while permanent cities have centuries of habits and infrastructure to contend with. However, it’s built completely from scratch in a matter of weeks. It should not take us decades to rebuild our permanent cities to make them safe for bicycling.

These lessons from Black Rock City show the importance of the Great Bike Infrastructure Project, PeopleForBikes’ new program transforming communities across the United States with infrastructure that enables people of all ages and abilities to comfortably ride a bike for everyday trips. We need to permanently rebuild American cities to create gender equity, access for everyone, mobility convenience, and joy. Burning Man participants build a city of 70,000 in a few weeks. Let’s not take too long to rebuild American cities. 

Nevada’s Annual Experiment in a Temporary, (Nearly) Car-Free City

In 2023, state and local governments across the United States have allocated record funding to support biking initiatives, promote safety, and enhance recreational opportunities. These investments demonstrate a growing commitment to sustainable, active, and more equitable transportation options by building out safe and connected bike infrastructure networks.

Below is a list of some of the most notable funding programs and approved initiatives across 10 different states and various municipalities in 2023.

Funding for Infrastructure and Safety Programs at the State Level

Minnesota: The state of Minnesota allocated an impressive $50 million for biking and walking initiatives, including $40 million in annual funding for general biking and walking programs and an additional $10 million per year for the Minnesota Department of Transportation Safe Routes to School grant. This substantial investment will support the development of infrastructure, safety enhancements, and educational programs. 

New Mexico: With a total of $4,320,000 approved in its latest state budget, New Mexico is investing in numerous biking and pedestrian projects. This includes acquiring land, planning, designing, constructing, and improving pedestrian and bicycle trails in Albuquerque, Las Cruces, and Santa Fe. These improvements aim to enhance accessibility, safety, and connectivity for biking and walking.

Washington: Washington state committed $197 million to biking and pedestrian initiatives through its Move Ahead Washington program. The funding includes $72 million for the Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Program, $73 million for the Safe Routes to School Program, $25 million for Connecting Communities, and $27 million for the School-Based Bike Safety Education Program. These funds will increase safety measures, improve infrastructure, and promote active transportation.

Hawaii: Policymakers approved a Safe Routes to School bill, an important step in achieving Vision Zero and complete streets policies throughout the state. The bill appropriates $10 million for the next two years to be put towards Safe Routes to School projects and programs. In addition to the funding, the bill also establishes a Safe Routes to School Advisory Committee. 

Florida: Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill that allocates $200 million to connect hiking and biking trails to a planned statewide wildlife corridor. This investment will expand Florida's Greenways and Trails System and the SUN Trail Network, creating a vast network of recreational trails spanning 18 million acres from the Florida Keys to the Panhandle.

Funding for Infrastructure and Safety Programs at the Local Level

Anchorage, Alaska: Proposition A ($3,950,000) and Proposition 2 ($945,000) will invest in trail rehabilitation, recreational facility improvements, school zone safety upgrades, and transit facility enhancements.

Colorado Springs, Colorado: Resolution No. 03-23 allocates $240 million over 20 years through a sales tax extension. This funding will support trails, open spaces, and parks, growing access to biking and outdoor recreation.

Shirley, Massachusetts: Voters approved the Community Preservation Act, which will raise $840,000 over 10 years. The Community Preservation Act (CPA) is a smart growth tool that helps communities preserve open space and historic sites, create affordable housing, and develop outdoor recreational facilities (such as trails for bike riding).

Duxbury, Massachusetts: Voters approved an increase in their current Community Preservation Act surcharge from 1% to 3%. This will create $8,902,465 to develop and maintain green spaces, creating more opportunities for biking and other recreational activities.

Harvard, Massachusetts: Residents voted to increase their current Community Preservation Act surcharge to 1.9%. This will add $2,859,541 in funds for community development including bicycle infrastructure.

Funding for State Electric Bicycle Incentive Programs

Colorado: The new statewide tax credit is one piece of a larger climate package — fiscal estimates suggest the program would cost the state around $100 million before it expires in 2033. However, if the state's economy grows by less than 4% in a given year, the e-bike tax credit could be cut in half.

Minnesota: The state allocated $4 million to incentivize the purchase and use of electric bicycles, promoting eco-friendly commuting options.

Vermont: Legislature approved a $150,000 program to incentivize electric bicycle adoption, contributing to cleaner transportation and reduced carbon emissions.

Washington: Legislature created a $7 million e-bike incentive program to encourage the adoption of electric bicycles.

Maine: Although details are still to be determined by the program administrator, this new program should dedicate up to $500,000 from the state’s electric vehicle funding to its new e-bike rebate program.

Just seven months into the year, more than $800 million is helping fund biking programs and initiatives, highlighting the growing commitment of state and local governments to support biking, enhance safety, and promote active transportation. This, in addition to the nearly $13 billion in federal funding that could accelerate the planning and construction of biking and walking projects across the country, will dramatically expand access to safe infrastructure for millions of Americans. 

These investments in infrastructure and incentives will benefit more than just those who use them directly — quality bicycle infrastructure can help reduce the number of cars on the road, therefore reducing traffic and congestion, cleaning our air, and making it safer for everyone to use our streets. More money for bikes translates to more sustainable and healthier communities for all.

There’s Already Record Funding For Bikes in 2023

Policy

Promoting Sustainability

Advancing Tactical Initiatives to Achieve Environmental, Health and Corporate Sustainability Goals in the Bike Industry

Identifying the Role of Bikes in Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation

Creating Policies and Funding that Streamline Bike Projects and Access to Transit to Meet Sustainability Goals

Partnering on Voluntary Electric Bicycle Battery Recycling Programs

Positioning Bikes and Electric Bikes as Tools for Disaster Recovery