2012: Looking back on a year of change

The 2012 BikePGH team astride our cargo bike

How our members are transforming Pittsburgh

Celebrated our 10th year of change-making;
Over 52 times BikePGH was mentioned or interviewed in the media, keeping bikes in the news more than once a week on average;
5th out of the 60 largest cities in “biking + walking” commuter mode share, according to the US Census. This helped Pittsburgh land the 2014 Pro Walk/Pro Bike Conference – the largest active transportation conference of engineers, planners, elected officials, and advocates in the world.

The May ceremony when the City installed the first on-street bike corral at OTB Bicycle Cafe in the South Side

Planning & Infrastructure

17 total miles of bike lanes (6.7 miles) and shared lane markings (10.5 miles) were installed this year. This brings the citywide grand total to 52 miles of bike lanes/sharrows (28/24 miles);
The City installed 2 on-street bike corrals – the first corral in May, and a second one in November;
2.8 miles of new bike lanes on Brighton Ave in the Northside making this the second longest stretch of continuous bike lanes in the City;
25 miles of bike lanes and sharrows in two years a promise that the Mayor made and kept when receiving the Bronze Bike Friendly Status in 2010;
2 Space Invaders now grace the floor of the 3rd Avenue Garage creating a fun, secure, indoor bike parking facility in a downtown parking garage. The facility features 1 bike fixit station, including a do-it-yourself emergency repair and pump fixture;
4 feet is the amount of space that cars must give bicyclists in Pennsylvania, due in part to our efforts to pass the “safe passing bill” in Harrisburg;
3 major plans that include physically separated bike lanes: Oakland 2025, Allegheny River Green Blvd, and the Downtown Action Strategy.

Over 2,500 people participated in Pedal Pittsburgh – BikePGH’s first time hosting the 19 year-old ride

Events

2,500 Pedal Pittsburgh participants, plus 200 volunteers eating 1,200 local peaches, under 1.13 inches of rain (Save the Date: 2013 Pedal PGH Sun. Aug 25);
638 Keg Riders, escorting 4 full kegs of East End Brewing Company beer on bike trailers, for charity;
Over 200 events on the Bike Pittsburgh public events calendar;
86 BikeFest events marking the largest number of events to date (Save the Date: 2013 BikeFest Aug 9-25);
Over 500 people participated in Bike to Work Day (including the 1st time a Pittsburgh Mayor rode to work) with the support of 35 local businesses and dozens of volunteers at 14 Hydration Stations;
Our Car Free Fridays programming included 42 events, 4 community forums, and 19 Car Free Fridays Action Kits, helping inspire countless Pittsburghers to leave the car at home and rethink their transportation choices.

BikeFest brings out the bike fun!

Community

768 people became BikePGH Members for the first time this year bringing our overall total to 2,175 members;
294 people volunteered for a total of 1,415 hours, adding the equivalent of a full-time staff person for over 8 months;
126 light sets given away to light-less bicyclists during our pop-up light giveaway on the CMU campus;
1067 people signed up to represent the Pittsburgh region in the National Bike Challenge, forming 84 teams, representing nearly 400 employers. The region rode over 350,000 miles, burning 8,000,000 calories, keeping nearly 350,000 pounds of CO2 out of the atmosphere. All told, we placed 36th out of hundreds of cities nationwide, and Pittsburgh was the #1 largest metro area in the top 40;
During the Pittsburgh Foundation’s Day of Giving, 467 people gave to BikePGH with 107 of them being first time donors, placing us 8th citywide for highest number of donors. This raised $38,000, totaling $40,890 with the matching funds;
94 businesses are now BikePGH Business Members;
8 employers earned Bike Friendly Employer recognition from BikePGH for either their entire operation or a specific department/facility.

Not a member of BikePGH? Join today! We need you to add your voice! Bike Pittsburgh works to protect cyclist’s rights and promote the vision of making Pittsburgh a safer and more enjoyable place to live and to ride. For more info, check out: www.bikepgh.org/membership