2015 Year in Review
2015 proved to be one of the most successful years yet for the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia, and the Greater Philadelphia region’s bicyclists.
Throughout the year, we saw bicycling grow at a rapid pace, more infrastructure installed in the city of Philadelphia and its surrounding areas, and promises from local leaders to provide better, safer facilities for cyclists in the future — including physically-protected bike lanes. Additionally, programs such as Safe Routes Philly, Cadence Youth Cycling, and Vision Zero expanded exponentially, informing more citizens.
January
The Bicycle Coalition began our year with very ambitious goals. A mayoral election was coming up in November, and it was important that all candidates vying for the executive position support a platform for safer streets. The Coalition began working on two major publications: the Better Mobility Platform, and the Vision Zero report.
The Platform was created alongside several other like-minded organizations throughout the city with common goals.
The Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, Feet First Philly, the Clean Air Council and PenTrans were just some of the organizations that stood with the Bicycle Coalition and demanded better mobility for all of Philadelphia’s road users.
February
The Bicycle Coalition was extremely grateful when our sponsor ASI donated 50 Fuji bikes to Cadence Youth Cycling, the Bicycle Coalition’s youth competitive cycling program.
We hosted an all-day “Bike Build” event in which participants trekked through the snow to help the Coalition build those bikes for our Cadence Youth Cycling athletes.
Candidate Meetings
Meanwhile, the Bicycle Coalition and our Better Mobility partners began holding meetings with all Philadelphia mayoral candidates, briefing them on our platform and inviting them to the Better Mobility Mayoral Forum in March.
All candidates — both Republican and Democratic — agreed during those meetings that safer streets and better mobility were important for the future of Philadelphia to make it a safer, more prosperous place for all its residents.
Many candidates agreed to fill out a Better Mobility questionnaire, stating their priorities for better streets and all agreed to have a presence at the Better Mobility 2015 Mayoral Forum.
March
The Better Mobility Mayoral Forum was attended by more than 300 citizens and all mayoral candidates had a presence at the debate. For two hours, candidates discussed how to make Philadelphia a better, safer place to travel and commute. Philadelphia Magazine summed it up accurately with this headline:
Within weeks, candidates had responded to our Better Mobility questionnaire, and those answers were put up on our website.
“Though there were important distinctions between the candidates, all were eager to proclaim their interest and commitment to cycling and transit, all said they supported “Vision Zero” (the Swedish-born notion that traffic fatalities can be eliminated through better planning and infrastructure design), and all said that improved conditions for cyclists and pedestrians were important concerns for a diverse array of Philadelphians, in spite of some public perception to the contrary.” — Philadelphia Magazine
The interest of both our candidates for public office, and the greater public at large showed the city how important the issue of better mobility was. The working group’s platform emphasized just how many people in Philadelphia were actually commuting to work and school.
…But Philadelphia’s bicycling community was about to get even larger.
April
In April 2015, Philadelphia launched Indego bike share, the city’s first-ever bicycle sharing system.
The Bicycle Coalition and our members had been advocating for a public bike sharing system for a long time, and have continued to work with the city of Philadelphia and Indego to make bike sharing better, and more equitable.
Streetfilms also put together a video about our new bike-sharing system.
Want to make 2016 an even better year for bicycling in the Greater Philadelphia Region? Make a year-end tax-deductible donation.
May
Women Bike PHL— a project of the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia which aims to inspire more Philadelphia women to ride bicycles and build community among those who do— had a year full of exciting projects and expansive growth.
On Mother’s Day 2015, 20+ women and children enjoyed a beautiful ride around West Philly to celebrate CycloFemme and Mother’s Day!
Additionally, Frances Dumalo created a short video this year, highlighting Women Bike PHL’s goals and accomplishments.
The Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia’s Safe Routes Philly program, which promotes biking and walking as a fun and safe form of transportation in Philadelphia’s elementary schools, held its biggest ever Bike To School Day in 2015. Philadelphia’s Bike to Work Day, also in May, was a major success.
Bike to School Day
Nine schools registered for the May 6 Bike to School Day and over 500 students came out to bike, walk, and ride their scooters.
Safe Routes Philly, supported by the City of Philadelphia Health Department and a National Highway Safety Administration grant awarded to the Mayor’s Office of Transportation and Utilities, has been working very closely with schools this year on Bike to School Day planning, promotion, and routes selection as well as bike and walking safety info and equipment to help keep students and staff safe while on the ride.
To date, Safe Routes Philly, which is administered by the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia, has taught at 133 schools, and reached more than 75,000 Philadelphia students, including Taylor, pictured above.
Nineteen schools have conducted walkability audits to identify physical changes that can be made to increase safety. Safe Routes Philly hopes to reach 45,000 more students by 2017.
Bike to Work Day
The Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia re-launched Bike to Work Day this year with four energizer stations around the city and a press conference at LOVE Park later in the morning. Hundreds of cyclists participated in the day, as did sponsors AAA, Kind and Capital One.
Later that afternoon, the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia teamed up with Yards Brewery and held a happy hour for our members and participants of Bike to Work Day.
The Philadelphia Primaries
Former City Councilperson Jim Kenney won Philadelphia’s Democratic mayoral primary with 58 percent of the vote. Melissa Murray-Bailey won the uncontested Republican primary. Both candidates had vocally supported a Vision Zero policy. Kenney would eventually win the election.
“Shortly after taking office in January 2016, I will bring together stakeholders from the state and City government, advocacy groups, and community members to create a Vision Zero Task Force. This group will develop an action plan similar to what was most recently done by Mayor de Blasio in New York City. Several of the recommendations made by the New York City committee would also make sense in Philadelphia, specifically: automated speed cameras, reduced speed limits, specific “slow zones” across the City in designated danger areas and better street engineering to reduce travel speeds. Some of this will require authorization from Harrisburg, but there are things we can do in Philadelphia now to improve conditions.” — Mayor-Elect Jim Kenney
In addition to Kenney, several new City Councilmembers pledged their support of safer streets and a Vision Zero policy for Philadelphia.
During her announcement for a City Council At-Large seat, education advocate Helen Gym said she’d fight for “a walkable city that protects pedestrians and cyclists alike” and gave a shout-out to “the cyclists riding to work each morning and night, whether they are the most recent generation of immigrants to settle in South Philadelphia, or entrepreneurs creating a tech boom on North Third Street.”
Gym easily won a seat on Philadelphia’s City Council.
Summer
Over the summer 2015, the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia held numerous educational, policy and plain-old fun events for the Greater Philadelphia bicycle community.
Cadence Youth Cycling
Cadence Youth Cycling athletes participated in numerous biking, running and swimming events throughout the region, including the Atlantic City Triathlon. Several students won medals at the event.
The athletes also went on a weekend camping trip along The Circuit.
Cadence Youth Cycling and Rails-to-Trails organized a bicycling and camping trip along the Circuit, youth athletes, adults and mechanics traveled 118 miles
The Sojourn began at Fairmount Water Works. 12 youth and 8 adults attended. They had 3 mechanics and 2 SAG support drivers.
Rails-To-Trails youth engagement coordinator Tom McKeon worked alongside youth athletes to plan out the education programming.
Students and chaperones biked up the Schuylkill River Trail and stopped at East Falls Bridge for student-run lessons on the environment, and other issues.
Summer Happy Hour Series
The Bicycle Coalition held happy hours in four separate Philadelphia neighborhoods over the summer, with local bars donating part of the proceeds back to the Coalition.
At those happy hour events, members of the Greater Philadelphia community came out to meet with Coalition staff, express their concerns and comments about making Philadelphia a better place for bicycling.
The Coalition held the last of the happy hours at The Porch at 30th Street Station.
At that event, Lone Wolf Cycling, a local mountain biking gear company, announced the winner of an Instagram mountain biking photo contest nicknamed #BikePHLdirt: Team Laser Cats, a women’s mountain biking team in Philadelphia.
The goal of the contest was to successfully photograph some of Philadelphia’s lesser-known mountain biking infrastructure in Fairmount Park. The judges thought the winning photo successfully showcased how mountain bikers in the city have turned old Fairmount Park infrastructure into new trails.
The Circuit Moves Forward
On June 26th, the Board members of the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission voted unanimously to support the dedication of federal and private dollars toward 11 Circuit trail segments in Pennsylvania.
It approved a new “line item” for the Pennsylvania Transportation Improvement Program that designates $5 million in federal transportation dollars for construction.
Funding for final design and engineering of six of these projects was also approved at the Board meeting. The design grants were awarded through DVRPC’s Regional Trails Program, supported by the William Penn Foundation. The seventh project was previously funded for design through another source.
The trail projects being added to the line item include:
- Bridge Street Crossing on the Delaware & Lehigh Canal Towpath, Bucks County
- A segment of the Newtown Branch Trail, Bucks County
- A segment of the Pennypack Trail, Montgomery County
- Chester Valley Trail Extension, Montgomery County
- Pennypack Trail — crossing of State and Rhawn Streets, Philadelphia
- Spring Garden Street Greenway, Philadelphia
- Lindbergh Boulevard Side Path at 84th Street, Philadelphia
Washington Avenue
The Bicycle Coalition held pre-meetings in preparation for a final summer Washington Avenue public meeting for a better Washington Avenue in South Philadelphia.
The Bicycle Coalition hosted safer streets advocates at Tattooed Mom bar on South Street, explained the history of Washington Avenue and why the street has deteriorated over time, creating unsafe travel for cyclists and pedestrians.
Our main goal: We needed something done now to make the street safer; but we need a much more comprehensive long-term plan that would cut down on crashes and make pedestrians and bicyclists more comfortable using the road.
At the meeting, members of city departments discussed potential solutions for the street, and, after taking feedback from citizens, announced they’d begin with a long-term solution in Summer 2016. In the meantime, the city re-striped the avenue’s shoulder.
A long-term solution? Absolutely not. Something for added safety in the short term? Yes.
County Committees
Three suburban county committees led by hard-working Bicycle Coalition members and volunteers Amanda Lozinak (Bike Chester County), Chuck Cruit (Bike Delaware County) and Ken Boyle (Bike Bucks County) held meetings, organized presentations and got supporters of trail projects out to community events.
Bike Delaware County held a county council candidates forum and a low-stress street map-athon. In October, after several years of advocacy by these volunteers and BCGP staff, PennDOT finalized pavement marking plans for seven suburban roads that will be implemented when funding is programmed by the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission.
September
September was a big month for the Bicycle Coalition. We saw many students across the region come back to school, and ended the month with Pope Francis’ visit — in which bikes played a huge role.
Ride For Reading
On September 17, Safe Routes Philly held its Ride for Reading event, in which Safe Routes Coordinator Waffiyyah Murray led a group ride to Powel Elementary School in West Philadelphia, delivered more than 100 books, and led a lesson on reading and exercise to a group of students.
Vision Zero Bill Introduced
Philadelphia City Councilmembers Cindy Bass and Mark Squilla introduced a bill which would add a $5 fee onto vehicle registration in Philadelphia County for better, safer streets.
The additional money would go toward “construction, reconstruction, maintenance and repair of and safety on public highways and bridges and costs and expenses … with the highest priority given to projects most likely to reduce traffic deaths,” according to the ordinance’s language.
This was an ordinance that the Bicycle Coalition and our Better Mobility partners had been pushing for since releasing the Better Mobility platform earlier in the year.
Pope Francis Visits Philadelphia
As Philadelphia prepared for Pope Francis’ visit, research coordinator John Boyle prepared the Philly “Pope Map,” which showed area residents where they could, and could not, ride their bike the weekend of Francis’ visit for the World Meeting of Families.
This map ended up being hugely popular, and was referenced by all major news outlets.
Meanwhile, Bicycle Coalition sponsor ASI donated a Breezer bicycle to Pope Francis, given his commitment to confronting climate change, in a ceremony headed by Mayor Michael Nutter. Bicycles were an important tool for residents and visitors to get around during the visit.
October
In mid-October, the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia received some somber news: Our executive director of 13 years, Alex Doty, was leaving at the end of the month to head up the League of American Bicyclists, in Washington, D.C. This was both sad, and exciting; even though Alex would move into a new position, and Bicycle Coalition Deputy Director Sarah Clark Stuart would soon move into the Interim Executive Director position beginning November 1.
Sarah has been with the Bicycle Coalition since 2006 and was responsible for beginning the process of turning the Manayunk Bridge into a cross-county pedestrian and bike trail.
Manayunk Bridge
We were pretty excited to attend the opening of the Manayunk Bridge Trail at the end of October. Especially since we’d been advocating for it for such a long time.
In 2008, Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia staff met and came to know the individuals and organizations who were working together to create a trail on the bridge, which at that time was an old railbed.
At a meeting of the Lower Merion Historical Society and a walk/bike ride afterwards to see the railbed, the bridge, and the possible connection down to the west side of the Schuylkill River where two additional bridges existed, it was clear that this potential trail should be connected to the Schuylkill River Trail and that the Manayunk Bridge would provide the reconnection that Lower Merion/West Philadelphia and Manayunk/Roxborough were seeking. After all funding had been secured, this cross-county bridge, and bi-county project, began.
Then, on October 31, 2015, the bridge officially opened at an event attended by leaders from Montgomery and Philadelphia Counties, as well as hundreds of citizens.
Open Streets
An Open Streets policy was an important part of our Better Mobility report — and after the World Meeting of Families in September, it became clear Philadelphians wanted an Open Streets event, similar to what cities all over the world, including New York City and Bogota, Colombia, already have. WHYY’s Radio Times hosted an Open Streets-centric show in October, and then-Mayoral candidate Jim Kenney said he would begin looking into Open Streets events during his administration.
November
Interim Executive Director Sarah Clark Stuart wasted no time getting settled into her new position. On November 3, Democrat Jim Kenney won Philadelphia’s mayorship with more than 85 percent of the vote. He soon named a transition team — and named Sarah to it. Stuart said she hoped to develop recommendations about Vision Zero for the transition team.
I am slated to work on developing recommendations about Vision Zero, how the Streets Department can put the city’s streets and sidewalks into a good state of repair, expanding bike share, improving the pedestrian realm, and an office of Complete Streets … Considerable analytical work and interagency communication and organization has been done by the Nutter Administration to lay the foundation for a Vision Zero policy and action plan and we are working to learn as much as possible to share in our recommendations.” — Sarah Clark Stuart
Women Bike PHL reaches New Record
Meanwhile, the Women Bike PHL private Facebook page — a safe space for women-identified people to discuss women’s bicycling issues — reached 2,000 total members in November.
December
After almost a year of advocating for a Vision Zero policy, the Bicycle Coalition teamed up with Thomas Jefferson University and presenting sponsor AAA to host Philadelphia’s first-ever Vision Zero Conference. The Conference’s speakers were experts from all over North America, and more than 250 residents from around the Greater Philadelphia region attended to find out what Philadelphia can do to make our streets safer for all road users.
The conference was featured all over Philadelphia media, including the Philadelphia Inquirer, Philly Voice, CBS3, Fox29, Generocity, WHYY, WURD, Generocity, and the Philadelphia Business Journal.
“Kenney was among several Philadelphia officials to highlight the city’s traffic safety efforts during the conference hosted by the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital,” wrote John Kopp of Philly Voice. “Vision Zero policies seek to eliminate all traffic-related deaths by improving infrastructure, implementing new safety technologies and boosting education and enforcement. They have been adopted by cities across the country, including New York, San Francisco and Washington.”
Jim Kenney Publicly Supports Vision Zero Philadelphia
And I think our police department, although they are very, very busy with what they do, I think we need to begin to change the narrative on what you’re allowed to do on the street, and what you’re allowed to do in a car, and start writing tickets and start being serious and strict about how we treat each other in the right way.
I will commit to you that we will work very honestly and closely with all departments involved in bringing Vision Zero to a reality, and investing the resources necessary to do that.
I need your help however in the designing of the bike lanes because obviously paint on the street isn’t enough. I’ve seen some applications of colored paint and something that’s a little more raised and is green which seems to be a little more…than just the paint in the street. But I’ve got to figure out how we protect those bike lanes in a way that’s both economical and practical.” — Mayor-Elect Jim Kenney
Vision Zero Bill Passes
On December 10, a week to the day after our Vision Zero Philadelphia Conference, Cindy Bass’ and Mark Squilla’s Vision Zero bill passed City Council. The ordinance will bring in an estimated $3.5 million per year to the city’s capital paving budget.
“This bill is an example of how Vision Zero can help bring new resources to the city. By taking advantage of this opportunity afforded by the state, the city will now have more resources available to make roads and intersections safer for bicyclists, pedestrians and motorists. Councilwoman Bass’ and Councilman Squilla’s leadership was very important in pushing through this important piece of legislation.” — Bicycle Coalition Interim Executive Director Sarah Clark Stuart
Click here to make an end of year tax-deductible donation to the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia.
