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https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/27432/critical-issues-in-transportation-for-2024-and-beyond

GETTING EVERYONE INTO THE BICYCLE ACT, OR HOW CHERRY GARCIA AND CHUNKY MONKEY JOINED THE FUN

Massachusetts is experiencing economic prosperity, and at the center of the vitality is the City of Boston. The downtown area and our neighborhoods are teeming with activity. However, the challenge is finding a balance between growth and accessibility, especially during the next major phase of the construction of the Central Artery. Finding ways to increase mobility has and will continue to be a role in maintaining the essential core of our vitality. Bicycling to work, with as many as 1,445,000 annual bike trips in the Boston area, is emerging as a major mode of transportation that increases mobility and accessibility. However, even with these positive statistics, in the March 1999 edition of BICYCLING, Boston was assessed as one of the "worst cycling cities" along with Las Vegas, and Tampa. The reasons given in this article were: "Bikes do not even make a blip on City Hall's radar screen. Racks and lanes are virtually non-existent, and there is no full-time city bike coordinator". Having had this article brought to our attention by bike advocates, the Boston TMAs joined together to present a case to the city to argue for higher visibility in cycling programs and to get the city more involved in Bike-to-Work Week. The Boston TMAs often come together to host events and to work collaboratively. In fact, the medical area TMAs had been working together on bicycle events since 1995. However this time was different because they wanted to experiment with a much larger corporate draw and to challenge their members to greater participation in bike events. Historically there was a lack of collaboration between the City of Boston and the bike advocates. The advocates and city were ideologically at odds as to how best to serve the cyclists. After evaluating prior bike-to-work week programs, the TMAs agreed that a "Corporate Challenge" type of bicycling event would strengthen the public/private partnership enjoyed in other areas of TDM. The TMAs introduced the concept of a Corporate Challenge for bike-to-work week. This presented a goal that miraculously had buy-in from all sides! The Corporate Challenge was an opportunity to get everyone around the table and agree to a common goal. Our job was to put together a fun and successful event in a short period of time with a constrained budget.

  • Supplemental Notes:
    • Full conference proceedings available on CD-ROM.
  • Corporate Authors:

    Association for Commuter Transportation

    1518 K Street, NW, Suite 503
    Washington, DC  United States  20005
  • Authors:
    • Flaherty, M L
    • Ashton, G M
  • Conference:
  • Publication Date: 2000

Language

  • English

Media Info

  • Pagination: 8p

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 00983153
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Files: TRIS
  • Created Date: Dec 22 2004 12:00AM