Pedaling To a Post-Pandemic Life
Advocacy wins, what has changed, and what is coming next
It’s one year into the COVID-19 pandemic. We’re taking stock of how the Bay Area transportation landscape has changed, and what Bike East Bay and our partners are doing about it. The past year has contained an extraordinary amount of grief and loss — in the East Bay, our country, and around the world. While the stories on this page and across this spring issue are overwhelmingly hopeful about the possibility of more people riding, transit emerging stronger, and community-focused safety growing in our East Bay communities, we acknowledge and hold that these bright spots don’t eclipse the real hardship people have faced this year. However you relate to reaching the one year mark of the COVID-19 pandemic, we see you, and we’re here for you.
Pandemic Bike Boom
Over the past year, walking and biking have emerged among the most popular forms of recreation and exercise. According to research from People for Bikes, 61% of people across the country said they’re walking more, and 44% said they’re biking more during the COVID-19 pandemic. But you know it just by walking outside: you’re seeing friends and neighbors on bikes, some for the very first time. Bike East Bay is making sure new riders are ready for the road. We quickly brought our free bicycle education classes online, and between March 2020-March 2021, more than 1,500 people attended a class. A record-breaking sixteen new protected bike lanes came on the ground in 2020, along with upgraded infrastructure projects to welcome all levels of riders. More openings are on the way in time for Bike to Wherever Day on May 21!
Transit Funding
Keeping transit funded and running is crucial as the Bay Area recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic. As restrictions lift, reliable, safe, well-funded transit means more people will opt for modes of transportation that reflect our sustainable and accessible future. Bike East Bay has been working with the Metropolitan Transportation Commission on infrastructure projects to encourage more bike-friendly quick-build connections to transit. Funding recommendations on those upgrades will be announced later this spring, and projects could come on the ground as soon as early next year. We’re ready to go further with public transit and bike-plus-transit trips, not back into cars on traffic-jammed streets. We applaud our partners at Voices for Public Transportation, who work to ensure transit workers have adequate protective equipment, vaccine access, and that operators get needed funding to sustain essential service during the pandemic.
Reimagining Public Safety
Following the national uprisings for racial justice in 2020, Bike East Bay joined the City of Oakland’s Reimagining Public Safety Task Force to contribute our knowledge and vision on how to improve traffic safety without relying on armed police. We targeted this issue because traffic stops are the most common reason for police interaction with individuals — with outcomes that are both inequitable and life-threatening for Black and Brown communities. After months of research and deliberation, the traffic enforcement working group recommended that the city move most traffic enforcement away from police and to the Oakland Department of Transportation. This strategy was named as a top recommendation in a thorough analysis by the Anti-Police Terror Project-led Defund Police Coalition. Conversations move forward this spring in Oakland, Berkeley, Richmond, and Hayward. How can less enforcement and safer streets improve your ride? Get involved: BikeEastBay.org/ReimaginePublicSafety.
