Volunteer Night is Wednesday, April 2nd

Surely, surely, any day now spring is going to burst through the door like the Kool-Aid Man. With spring comes an explosion of bicycling and bicycling-related events. So if you've ever been interested in taking your bicycling to the next level and volunteering, here's a good way to get started.

Join us for our monthly volunteer night. RSVP by clicking here or filling out the form below (they're the same).

Volunteer Night
Wednesday, April 2nd
6:00 - 7:30 PM
1500 Walnut Street, Suite 1107
Philadelphia PA 19102

Questions? E-mail here.

Bicycle Club of Philadelphia Holding Spring Cleanup of Columbus Blvd Bike Lanes

Cleanup day flyer

The Bicycle Club of Philadelphia is hosting a cleanup project as part of the Streets Department's April 5th Philly Spring Cleanup. The project is to sweep the two Columbus Boulevard bike lanes from Oregon heading south to the intersection of Front Street and Pattison Avenue. The Streets Department will close one side of the Boulevard at a time during the cleanup.

The Streets Department is assigning sweepers, and volunteers will bag and hand off debris to Streets Department personnel. The cleanup project starts at 9am. Volunteers are meeting at the intersection of Columbus and Oregon.

Want to help your community and your bike ride by chipping in? You can join others in a ride to the event.

Date: Saturday, April 5th

Ride meeting location: Rittenhouse Square

Time: 8:15 AM 

You can RSVP by sending an email to Owen Sindler (sindlero@gmail.com) or registering through the Philly Spring Clean up volunteer form.

The project is listed in the South Philadelphia neighborhood as:

Bicycle Club of Philadelphia Cleans Up Columbus Blvd
2200 S. South Columbus Blvd

March Volunteer Night is This Next Wednesday

It's hard to imagine, but spring is right around the corner! And with that comes a joyful explosion of bicycling. Spring is our busiest time of the year, and that means new volunteering opportunities.

Whether you're a regular volunteer or have never been to our office before, come to our volunteer night this upcoming Wednesday! Our volunteer nights are a good entry point into the work we do and how you can get involved in making Philly a better, safer city for bicycling.

Wednesday, March 5th
6:00 - 7:30 PM
1500 Walnut Street, Suite 1107
pizza will be provided

To RSVP fill out this form, or complete the embedded form below:

Join Us for Volunteer Night This Wednesday Evening

So you and your fellow community-oriented friends did a Super Bowl pool, with everyone wagering 5 hours of volunteering. Good for you! How progressive! And you picked the Seahawks to win, but because it's the ennobling activity of volunteering we're talking about, you are doing the classy thing and volunteering along with the losers of the wager.

Well, lookit here - just like Seattle's swarming secondary, a volunteer opportunity has popped up at the speed of a thought. Our monthly volunteer night is this Wednesday! Join us at our Center City office to talk bicycling, fold envelopes, eat some pizza, and stay warm.

Fill out this form to let us know you're coming. If the embedded form doesn't work, here's the link.

Join Us for Volunteer Night This Wednesday

Was one of your New Year's resolutions to be a force for good in your community? Was another one to eat some pizza? Well, get a jump start on both by joining us for volunteer night this Wednesday evening!

Bicycle Coalition volunteer night
Wednesday, January 8th
6:00 - 7:30 PM
1500 Walnut Street, Suite 1107
Philadelphia, PA 19102

RSVP to attend by filling out this super complicated, mindbogglingly complicated form. If you finish the form without throwing your hands up in exasperation and calling your genius cousin who went to MIT, maybe you're a genius too.

Join Us for Volunteer Night on Wednesday, December 4th

It's been a crazy last month for the Bicycle Coalition, with epic transportation bills and hectic bike light giveaways winding us up a little tight. So sometimes it's nice to just sit back, stuff some envelopes, eat some pizza, and chat about bicycles.

Sound like your kind of time? Join us!

Wednesday, December 4th
6:00 - 7:30 PM
1500 Walnut Street, 2nd floor conference room
Philadelphia, PA 19102

RSVP online

Join Us for Volunteer Night: November 6th

The weather is getting cold, so come inside and help us be a better bicycle nonprofit! Our monthly volunteer night is coming up next week, and we've got a lot for eager hands to do!

Wednesday, November 6th
BCGP Office (1500 Walnut St, 2nd Floor conference room)
6:00 -7:30 PM
Click here to RSVP

As always, there will be friends, pizza, and lively bicycling conversation.

Push Back the Darkness: Help Us Finish Our Bike Counts

Since the dawn of time (cue Inception horn noise), mankind has sought to explore the unknown. Courageous sortie after courageous sortie, we pierce the veil to bring back a greater understanding of what is beyond our sight.

What Google Maps would look like, if not for the sort of people who do bike counts

In that spirit, we are seeking intrepid scientists and explorers to venture forth into the inky blackness that is the question, When And How Often Does Philly Bike To Work?

We are two-thirds done with our fall bike counts! Help us finish this important data collection task! Without your help, when someone asks us how much Philly commutes to work by bike, we'll just have to reply with this:

The X-axis is time of day, and the Y-axis is dragons

Bike counts are 90 minutes long, and happen either at 7:30-9:00 AM, or 4:30-6:00 PM. They happen on weekdays when it isn't raining, and they need to happen ASAP!

Can you take one? Great! Here's what you do:

Our Next Volunteer Night is Wednesday, October 2nd

Our next volunteer night is this Wednesday, October 2nd! Volunteers help us with bike counts, events like the upcoming Philly Bike Expo, and other activities that improve bicycling in the Greater Philadelphia region.

Bicycle Coalition volunteer night
Wednesday, October 2nd
6:00 - 7:30 PM
1500 Walnut Street, 2nd floor conference room
Philadelphia, PA 19102

RSVP to attend here so we know how much pizza to order.

Help Our Fall Bike Counts!

It's that time of the year again - when we stand on street corners and on bridges and count bicycles!

Did someone mention counting?

This is our annual down-and-dirty data collection effort, which gives us a valuable snapshot of bicycle commuting trends in Philadelphia.

We need volunteers to help us collect this valuable data! 

Background Info:

• Shifts are 90 minutes long, either 7:30-9 AM or 4:30-6PM, on weekdays. They do not happen if it's raining.
• The intersections we count are all in or around Center City, with one extra spot on Temple's Campus, two in West Philly, and two in NoLibs/Kensington.
• We also count the bridges across the Schuylkill from Spring Garden to South Street, and the Ben Franklin Bridge (on the PA side).

 Interested in helping out? Here's whatcha gotta do:

Volunteer With Us This Next Wednesday Evening

Our volunteer night is coming up this Wednesday, September 4th! Depending on the needs of the month, our volunteer nights can include event and outreach training, envelope stuffing, or data collection training.

Our fall bike counts are on the horizon, which are persistently one of our most popular volunteer activities. You need to attend at least on volunteer night in order to help with bike counts, so seize the day!

Please register so we know how many people to expect and how much pizza to order.

Wednesday, September 4th

6:00 - 7:30 PM

1500 Walnut

2nd floor conference room

Philadelphia, PA 19102

Help Build Trails By Attending Volunteer Night This Wednesday

As we work to make bicycling better in the Greater Philadelphia Region, we often find ourselves in need of more hands (or feet, or ears, or whole people. Whole people, actually. Nothing less). There are always opportunities to get involved in your bicycling commuting, and our volunteer nights are a good place to start!

Our volunteer nights are typically the first Wednesday of every month, so the next one is coming up this Wednesday.

Bicycle Coalition Volunteer Night
Wednesday, August 7th
6:00 - 7:30 PM
1500 Walnut Street, 2nd floor conference room
Philadelphia, PA

This month we're in the midst of a big push to show popular support for building new trails (The Circuit Commitment Campaign, to be exact). All volunteers are helpful, but especially people who live in counties other than Philadelphia county!

So RSVP to attend and learn how you can help get a new bike/ped trail built near your neighborhood! We'll feed you pizza so you don't have to worry about dinner.

Join Us For Volunteer Night Wed, July 3rd

It's summertime and anyone biking in the Greater Philadelphia Region can probably name a couple things they love about the experience, and a couple things they wish would change.

Want to make your ride better? Volunteer with us!

Our volunteer nights are the monthly meeting for new and veteran volunteers. We eat pizza, stuff envelopes (sometimes), talk bicycling, and train engaged bicyclists for upcoming events and projects for which we need volunteer help!

Wednesday, July 3rd
6:00 pm - 7:30 pm
1500 Walnut Street, Suite 1107
Philadelphia, PA 19102
RSVP here

Volunteer at the Philadelphia Cycling Classic!

The Philly Cycling Classic is coming up on June 2nd. We're helping with several aspects of the weekend, and are in need of some volunteers!

We're helping with the Bicycling Open ("the ride before the race"), valet parking, and the PCC Fan Zone (start/finish line), all of which benefit the Cadence Cycling Foundation. You'll have a chance to talk to locals and visitors about biking in Philly and to be a part of this great event. All volunteers get a PCC tee shirt in addition to one of our coveted I Bike PHL shirts! You'll also be entered in a raffle to win one of 5 custom cycling kits (shorts and jersey, made to order after the race).

The volunteer shifts range from 2 hours to 4 hours long, and all are located in Manayunk. We need folks from as early as 5:00 AM until as late as 6:00 PM. To sign up, contact Steve at steve@bicyclecoalition.org.

Volunteer Bicyclists Needed for a Noble Bike Ride Next Wednesday Morning

Faster, noble wolves! The books are thawing!

Have you ever dreamed of mushing a pack of sled dogs over the Canadian Rockies to bring much-needed medical supplies to a small fur trapping outpost nestled between those magnificent peaks?

Us too! We should share our sled dog fanfic sometime. In the meantime, though, you can do something less abusive of animals and far more convenient: bike books to an elementary school!

We need volunteers to help with the Ride for Reading happening the morning of Wednesday, May 8th.

We need bicyclists to help us deliver 1,000 books to elementary school students!

Interested volunteers need to meet up at 2000 Hamilton Street next Wednesday at 7:30 AM (this is by the Fairmount Whole Foods). Bring a bike and something to carry books in (backpack, messenger bag, trailer, cargo bike, etc). We will be riding the books along a 5-mile route to Childs Elementary in South Philly.

Once arrived, there will be a short ceremony at 8:30 am at which every child will get to take home 1-2 books. It's going to be pretty much straight adorable. Interested? Contact Megan at megan@bicyclecoalition.org directly or attend our volunteer night tomorrow night from 6-7:30 pm.

Get Your Volunteer On This Wednesday 4/3

While he prefers cold waters, Oliver
is still excited about spring

Our monthly volunteer night is coming up this Wednesday, April 3rd!

The spring and summer are, unsurprisingly, our busiest times of the year. May itself is National Bike Month, and there will be many rides, events, and other bicycle-related goings-on.

If you've been meaning to help your community become more bike-friendly, or just like being around other people who love bicycles, this is right in your wheelhouse.

Wednesday, April 3rd
6:00 - 7:30 pm
1500 Walnut Street, 2nd Floor conference room
RSVP to attend here

Bicycle Coalition Volunteer Night This Wednesday

He's got 200 business cards printed in his own ink!
Okay, that's a little gross...

Volunteer night returns March 13th! It was shifted back by one week on account of the National Bike Summit down in D.C.

Oliver remains down in D.C. for the yearly Mollusk Bike Advocates International networking event. But we're back in Philly, ready to talk bicycling advocacy and the many events and activities coming up this spring!

Bicycle Coalition Volunteer Night
Wednesday, March 13th
6:00 - 7:30 pm
1500 Walnut Street, 2nd floor conference room
RSVP here

Get Your Bike On This Week With Upcoming Classes and Family-Friendly Bike Rides

It feels like winter outside, but everyone know bicycles are notoriously calendar-focused. They see it says "March" on that Phillies wall calendar hanging in your garage and they start spinning their pedals and whining. So shut your bike up by taking advantage of these free bike activities happening in the next week!

1) Kidical Mass! Family Bike Ride
This Saturday, March 9th
10:30 AM, Fitler Square, Philly

This is a friendly, casual ride for parents to ride bicycles with their children! It's like a Critical Mass, but with more adorable and less confrontation.

You can see the 4-mile center city ride route here. You can learn more information about the group of parents organizing these rides on their website or in their Facebook group.

2) Bicycle Coalition Volunteer Night
Wednesday, March 13th
6:00 - 7:30 PM
1500 Walnut Street, 2nd floor conference room, Philly

This is our monthly volunteer night! This is going to be a HUGE year for the Bicycle Coalition, and we want you to get involved! Volunteer nights are relaxed, fun evenings in our office where we handle volunteer-y tasks, talk bicycling, eat pizza, and preview upcoming events and activities for which we'll need volunteers. RSVP by filling out this form and contact Steve at steve@bicyclecoalition.org with questions.

3) Urban Riding Basics Class
Thursday, March 14th
6:00 - 7:00 pm
1500 Walnut Street, Suite 1107
Register here

A class for new or inexperienced bicyclists looking to gain confidence navigating streets with cars. Let our Bicycle Ambassadors walk you through everything you need to know to have fun and be safe when riding your bike in the city. Class limited to 12 spots; bicycles not required. Topics covered include:

• Buying the right bike
• Locking it up
• Helmets and clothing
• Rules of the road
• Biking in the rain

Are You Willing To Give Yourself To This People-Counting Program?

Remember the Parklet? It was the code name for the secretive memorandum at the core of Robert Ludlum's novel The Straphanger Reverberation, a memorandum with implications that reached the highest levels of government--- no, wait. Sorry. That's not right at all. (Although we do love a good fake Robert Ludlum title.)

This is a parklet:

Adorable parklet at Green Line Cafe, 43rd & Baltimore; photo credit: phillymotu.wordpress.com

Much less overwrought than a Ludlum plot synopsis, the parklet is a parking space turned into a tiny roof deck stationed in front of coffee shops, libraries, and restaurants. Last year the City put up six of them to much acclaim. This year, MOTU is currently expecting to install at least eight, in Manayunk, Chinatown, West Philly, Fishtown, and Grad Hospital.

To bolster this program, MOTU is hoping to glean more data about the success of these installations. So they're looking for volunteers for a very dangerous mission: 

Volunteer With Us This Wednesday!

Oliver is unable to hide the warm
afterglow that comes from volunteering

Our monthly volunteer night is happening this Wednesday! On the night's agenda will be:

• preparing bike lights for our upcoming, top-secret, on-street bike light giveaway;
• stuffing envelopes;
• eating pizza;
• making new friends;
• talking about bicycling.

Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia's volunteer night
Wednesday, February 6th
6:00 -7:30 PM
1500 Walnut Street, 2nd floor conference room, Philly

Let us know you're coming with a good old fashioned online RSVP.