Wrap Up: 100 Philly Bicycles Get Lit Up Wednesday On South Street

The Streets of Philadelphia are a little brighter -- and close to 100 cyclists are a lot safer -- after our first bike light giveaway on Wednesday evening. Six volunteer ambassadors joined BCGP staffers Diana and Steve, two Penn Police officers, and two EMS mechanics along the green bike lanes just west of the South Street Bridge. They waved over unlit cyclists passing by (bikers-by?), each of whom rode away with a brand new light set. Our crew even installed the blinking front light on the spot.

Photo credits: Stacy Ritchey of the Penn Dept of Protective Services.

Receiving a set of lights was a welcome and unexpected detour on the riders' commute across the chilly, windswept bridge. (Some learned about the giveaway by following us on Facebook and Twitter). We got a lot of surprised smiles from bicyclists when they realized what was going on, smiles which helped lessen the numbness in our volunteers' frostbitten fingers.

Philadelphia Rolls Out New Road Safety Education Campaign

The City of Philadelphia is rolling out a new public safety campaign titled, "It's Road Safety Not Rocket Science." Included here are three of 19 different ads that will begin appearing on SEPTA buses, subways and bus shelters.

Keep off sidewalks!

The Mayor's Office of Transportation and Utilities  (MOTU) worked with Philly-based LevLane Advertising to develop the Ride-Right Walk-Right Drive-Right messages.  The goal of the campaign is to remind all users that pedestrians, bicyclists, transit riders, and drivers share the road and that we need to keep the streets and sidewalks safe for each other. 

Don't be a salmon!

The $125,000 campaign is funded by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and will run through the spring. Advertisements will appear on at least 65 buses, 50 bus shelters across the city, and dozens of Broad Street Line and Market Frankford Line subways.

Red means Stop

If you want to see more of the ads, visit MOTU's blog where they are posting them daily. The ads target different groups of street users, but these here are aimed at bicyclists. The Bicycle Coalition and AAA were consulted during the campaign's development.

Bring Our Urban Bike Riding or Bike Repair Classes To Your Workplace, Community, or Event

Do any of the following sound like you?

• "I want to bike more, but don't feel confident or safe on many city streets."
• "I want to bike to work, but don't think I can do it while maintaining professional attire."
• "It'd be cool if somebody offered basic bike maintenance classes, like fixing flats and cleaning chains."

You are in luck, our fine feathered friend! Our Bicycle Ambassadors program is back this summer, and we are offering classes and workshops to address these questions!

The Ambassadors are now offering free one-hour workshops by request. Simply fill out this form and indicate what type of workshop are you interested in. Ambassadors can come to your workplace for a "lunch 'n learn" workshop on bike commuting. They can come to your community center and offer a class on introductory bike maintenance. We can craft our materials and our schedule to fit your interest and needs!

If you are interested, just fill out this form with your contact info and what sort of workshop you are looking for, and the Ambassadors will be in touch shortly! If you have questions, you can also contact Diana at diana (at) bicyclecoalition.org.

Transcript of Alex Doty's Testimony at City Council Budget Hearing Today

Earlier today, our executive director Alex Doty presented this testimony at the public session of the 2013 Budget hearings before Philadelphia's City Council. Alex's main message was that bike lanes are an extremely low-cost way to save lives by making our streets safer. But insufficient funding for the Streets Department risks the city losing the best, cheapest opportunities to make road safety changes. Alex urged Council to provide more funding for additional traffic engineers to prepare striping plans for bike lanes and other traffic calming pavement markings.

While we were there, we learned that the Bike Lane Ordinance bill will most likely not come up for a hearing until late May, if it gets referred to the Streets Committee (as it did last year). The bill introduced last Thursday is not online yet, but it is nearly identical to last year's bill.

See the testimony below:

Want To Bike In The City But Nervous About It? Urban Riding Classes To The Rescue!

Consider the octopus. A smart, muscular animal comfortable in its domain. Now consider the octopus interested in biking through Philadelphia. Ambitious, it dons a bike helmet. Suddenly, the presence of the helmet makes the rest of its hitherto invincible body seem exposed. Doubt creeps in. 

Nervous about encountering cars and Orca whales on fixies

Do you feel like an octopus with a bike helmet? Are you interested in biking through Philly but concerned about navigating traffic, soiling your work clothes, or getting home in time to feed your 80,000 unhatched broodlings?

Then you should take our Urban Riding Basics class!