February 2023 - CalBike

CalBike’s 2023 Legislative Agenda

February 28, 2023/by Jared Sanchez

Last year was an excellent year for bike-friendly legislation in California, but 2023 is getting off to an even more exciting start, with a huge slate of bills that will make our streets safer for all Californians, regardless of their income level, race or ethnic background, or neighborhood. And we’re excited to have strong legislation to support our Invest/Divest Campaign.

Here’s a first look at the bills CalBike is supporting in 2023.

CalBike’s priority legislation

In 2023, there are even more great active transportation bills in the pipeline. We’ve broken them into tiers. The five bills below are CalBike’s must-pass legislation for 2023.

Build Community, Not Freeways

AB 7 (Friedman) California spends too much of its transportation budget on polluting, neighborhood-destroying freeway expansion projects. This bill eliminates single-occupancy vehicle freeway capacity projects. It’s a critical step toward divesting from climate-killing freeway building. California should use that money instead for green transportation infrastructure, including complete streets, separated bikeways, and better public transit.

Riding a Bike Is Not a Crime Slate

AB 825 (Bryan): Allows bicycle riding on a sidewalk adjacent to a street that does not include a Class I, Class II, or Class IV bikeway.

AB 93 (Bryan): Prohibits police officers from requesting consent to conduct a search if the officer does not suspect criminal activity.

SB 50 (Bradford): Prohibits police officers from stopping or detaining a pedestrian or bike rider for a low-level infraction.

AB 825 protects bike riders from traffic violence, allowing people on bikes to ride on sidewalks in areas where municipalities fail to provide safe bike facilities. Too often, police stops of people on bikes end in harassment or even violence, especially if the bike rider is Black or Latino. As an LA Times investigation showed last year, these stops do nothing to keep our communities safer, but they make it more dangerous for BIPOC folk to get around by bike. AB 93 and SB 50 prohibit police from stopping and searching a bike rider for minor infractions like riding without a light and allow California cities to move traffic enforcement from armed officers to the Department of Transportation or other street safety agencies. Taken together, this bicycle safety slate goes a long way toward creating the safe and equitable streets California needs, divesting from police and traffic violence and investing in policies that truly make our communities safe.

Two bills in our exciting Active Transportation Slate for 2023 also decriminalize bike riding and transit, making active transportation more accessible, especially for disadvantaged communities. AB 819 decriminalizes transit fare evasion, and AB 1266 would eliminate bench warrants for minor traffic infractions, including tickets to people on bikes, and keep them from escalating.

The Equity-First Transportation Funding Act

AB 1525 (Bonta) Historically, the majority of transportation dollars have gone to keep streets in wealthier areas in good repair, while investments in disadvantaged communities were more likely to be freeways that fractured neighborhoods and polluted the air. Disinvestment has made low-income communities more dangerous for people who bike, walk, or take public transit, cutting people off from economic opportunities because of a lack of access to transportation. AB 1525 seeks to right this injustice by requiring that 60% of California’s transportation dollars go to projects in disadvantaged communities, investing in transportation justice.

2023 Active Transportation Slate

Last year, we supported a historic Active Transportation Slate, which saw 15 bills signed into law, including landmark legislation like the Freedom to Walk Act. In addition to our five high-priority bills, this year’s active transportation slate contains 14 excellent measures that we’ll be working to pass into law.

AB 6 (Friedman): Regional Prioritization for Clean Transportation

We applaud Assemblymember Friedman for taking another pass at this crucial measure, which passed the legislature only to be vetoed by the governor in 2022. It requires regional transportation agencies to prioritize and fund projects that significantly contribute to regional and state climate goals, divesting from projects that contribute to GHG emissions and investing in transportation alternatives.

AB 73 (Boerner Horvath): Bike, Yield, Succeed

After two years of senseless rejections at the governor’s desk for a commonsense measure allowing people on bikes to treat stop signs as yields, this bill would establish a pilot program to test it in several cities. It’s a good step toward full legalization, though the safety of this law has been tested in the many other states that already allow the bicycle safety stop.

AB 413 (Lee): Daylighting to Save Lives

Too many people walking and biking are being killed on our streets, and intersections are one of the most dangerous spots. This bill will create greater visibility and reduce lethal collisions by prohibiting stopping, standing, or parking a vehicle within 20 feet of any unmarked or marked crosswalk.

AB 819 (Bryan): Decriminalize Transit Fare Evasion

In a perfect world, public transit would be fully publicly funded, and no one would have to pay to ride. Until we get there, this bill to decriminalize fare evasion by removing it as a misdemeanor classification is an excellent step in the right direction.

AB 1188 (Boerner Horvath): California Bike Smart Safety Handbook

What if a bicycle handbook with information on safe riding was available for free at the DMV and other public offices in California? Wouldn’t that be cool? This bill would make it happen.

AB 1266 (Kalra): No More Warrants for Infractions

When someone doesn’t appear for a traffic infraction, including bicyclists and pedestrians who get tickets, a judge can issue a bench warrant. If that person is later stopped (perhaps due to pretextual policing because of the color of their skin), they will have a warrant for their arrest and could be taken to jail. This measure eliminates bench warrants for minor traffic infractions, thereby eliminating a pipeline that has often kept people struggling to get by stuck in a cycle of jail time and poverty.

SB 695 (Gonzalez): Make Caltrans Freeway Data Public

One of the challenges transportation advocates face as we work to invest more in active transportation and divest from destructive freeway boondoggles is that it’s hard to pin down what money goes where in California’s complex transportation budget. This measure will help us re-route funding by providing information, requiring Caltrans to prepare and make available information and data about activities on the state highway system on a public data portal each year.

The active transportation slate also includes:

AB 251 (Ward): Deadly Oversized Cars
AB 361 (Ward): Cars Blocking Bike Lanes
AB 610 (Holden): Free Transit for Youth Pilot
AB 645 (Friedman): Automated Speed Enforcement Pilot
AB 761 (Friedman): Public Transit Transformation Task Force
AB 981 (Friedman): Highway Pilot Projects to Reduce Emissions
SB 712 (Portantino): Tenancy & Micromobility

We’re also watching a number of bills that are still being written, including one or two we might oppose. Check our Legislative Watch page for a list of all the bills on CalBike’s radar this year, and watch your inbox for opportunities to join our campaigns to pass essential active transportation legislation.

ActiveSGV Pioneers New Model for E-Bike Program

February 17, 2023/by Laura McCamy

Based in the San Gabriel Valley, local advocacy partner ActiveSGV has operated a unique e-bike program, GoSGV since the summer of 2022 and is rolling out new options in 2023.

Unlike many local e-bike programs, GoSGV doesn’t give subsidies for an e-bike purchase and, unlike San Diego’s Pe d al Ahead program, it doesn’t require users to log miles or ride a certain distance. We spoke with Jazmin Joyce, Special Programs Specialist with ActiveSGV, about how the program works and why its innovative approach could be a model for other local e-bike programs.

Small group, big plans

Started as a Facebook group a little more than a decade ago, ActiveSGV isn’t a big organization, but the savvy of its staff, board, and volunteers, and its willingness to take risks on innovative programs, have made it stand out. Its first e-bike program, launched in 2016, gave San Gabriel Valley residents $750 toward an e-bike purchase, and it was one of the first such programs in the U.S.

“What we do really well is partnerships,” Joyce says. The group looks for funding opportunities and tries to understand the needs of the community, then works to meet those needs. In the San Gabriel Valley, the bus system is spotty (especially since COVID), there aren’t a lot of accessible bike lanes, and cost is a barrier to riding a bicycle, especially an e-bike. “Transportation is a big barrier. We hear that all the time,” she says.

ActiveSGV decided to create an e-bike program because “people need to get to places that are far away,” Joyce says. “The e-bike is offering that opportunity to not just make it a recreational ride — to make it a useful ride.” With the region’s hilly terrain and hot summers, e-bikes are a natural fit for the group.

Share-to-own e-bikes

However, making e-bikes accessible is a big lift for a small group. So, while GoSGV has relied on grant funding to get started, it hopes that its unusual approach will make the program self-sustaining eventually.

Starting in 2018, GoSGV allowed people to try out bikes. It was originally operated by a private micromobility company. When private operators folded due to the pandemic, ActiveSGV stepped in to run it, with a vision for a program more suited to the needs of the region than docked, short-term rentals.

Under ActiveSGV’s stewardship, GoSGV rents e-bikes by the month, with reduced rates for low-income folks. The program offers a commuter bike and a bakfiets-style cargo bike with a basket in the front. The cargo bikes have been particularly popular, with people using them to take kids to school.

Since its relaunch in August 2022, the program has distributed over 200 bikes, and 23% of users have kept their bikes since the start of the program.

GoSGV gives people a low-cost way to try out life on an e-bike and figure out if it’s a good fit for them. “People really enjoyed the exposure to the e-bike, and they want to buy a bike for themselves because they enjoyed it,” Joyce says. At least five members have bought an e-bike as a result of their experience with the rental bike.

GoSGV also offers test-ride events to raise awareness about the program and give people a chance to try it out before committing to a monthly rental. “We’re able to connect with the community in a different way about bikes,” she says. The team hosts group bike rides, provides guidance and tips on safe riding and storage for new renters, and tries to respond to user questions quickly.

The program recently added a new twist: If a user rents a bike for 36 months, they can keep it as their own. At that point, the rental fees will have covered the purchase price of the bike, with the rider getting to pay for the purchase in small increments while having use of the e-bike.

A self-sustaining model for e-bike access

The funding to buy the e-bikes came through an ATP grant to the San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments. At present, operational costs are covered by rental fees, donations, and grants, but Joyce believes the GoSGV model can become self-sustaining.

The group plans to expand the program to local university campuses and also hopes to expand its bike fleet, especially the cargo bikes, which are in such high demand that they are limited to a two-month rental.

“We want to create access and exposure to these types of bikes,” Joyce says. Many people hadn’t thought about buying an e-bike before. ActiveSGV builds bike culture, one bike at a time, through its GoSGV program.

How to apply for the program:

San Gabriel Valley residents can apply by submitting an application at GoSGV.com. Once you’re approved for the program, you can schedule a time to pick up your bike or have it delivered for a $45 delivery fee.

Electric Bicycle Incentive Work Group Meeting Report: 1/31/23

February 17, 2023/by Laura McCamy

The meeting of the California Air Resources Board (CARB) Electric Bicycle Incentives Project work group on January 31, 2023, provided more information about program parameters and a robust discussion of details still being formulated. Here’s what you need to know.

California’s statewide e-bike program begins to take shape

Over the past few work group meetings, with excellent input from the public (including many of you), CARB has settled on these parameters for the e-bike incentive program:

To qualify, participants can make no more than 300% of the federal poverty level (FPL).
The base incentive will be $1,000.
Participants can get an additional $750 toward the purchase of a cargo bike or adaptive bike.
People whose income is below 225% of FPL or who live in a disadvantaged community can qualify for an additional $250, so the maximum incentive amount is $2,000.
Incentives can be applied toward sales tax, as well as the purchase price.
Incentives will be applied at the point of sale.
All three classes of e-bikes can qualify for incentives.
Used bikes will not be eligible.
Incentives can be used to buy e-bikes from local bike shops or online retailers with a business location in California.
Adaptive bikes can include tricycles. CARB plans to keep the definition of adaptive e-bikes as broad as possible.

The incentives will be first-come-first-served but with a hybrid model that reserves at least 50% of funding for priority applicants (those under 225% FPL or living in disadvantaged communities).

We also learned that the launch date, scheduled for Q1 of 2023, will be delayed until the second quarter, so look for the application window to open in April or later (no date set yet).

There will be another work group meeting, probably in March. We will give you more specific information about launch dates as soon as we have it.

CARB presentation

E-bike options still to be determined

The work group participants had a lot to say about the quality of e-bikes. Some are concerned that, if they buy one of the least expensive models available, the bike might break down, it might be hard to get parts to service it, and there might be an increased chance of battery fires. Several people expressed concerns about risks from improperly charging batteries.

CARB indicated an openness to allowing participants to use a portion of their incentives for gear such as helmets and locks, if the cost of the bike is less than the full incentive amount. Also, after discussion at the prior work group, the agency proposed requiring a minimum one-year warranty on electrical parts. The previous proposal had been two years, which would have disqualified some of the more affordable makes of e-bikes.

A CARB proposal that eligible bikes come with front and rear lights installed was not controversial. But requiring bikes to be assembled by the manufacturer at the manufacturer’s expense was hotly debated. Assembly is standard when buying bikes through a local retailer, but many e-bikes ordered online come with some assembly required. The program needs to balance the concern that people might get a bike they aren’t able to assemble against the need to include online retailers in the program and the fact that some communities don’t have a nearby bike shop.

People at the meeting expressed concern about education and training for participants, which will be discussed at a future work group. Other possible program parameters include priority for applicants with disabilities and a follow-up program to provide repair services to keep the bikes in good working condition.

As always, CalBike will continue to follow the development of this program and give you all the latest information. If you’re not already on our e-bike mailing list, you can sign up below.

CalBike 2023 Agenda: Invest in Our Transportation Future/Divest from Regressive Road-Building

February 15, 2023/by Jared Sanchez

CalBike’s agenda for 2023 continues our momentum from last year, lifting up multi-year campaigns like the Bicycle Safety Stop and Complete Streets and introducing a bold new framework with our Invest/Divest campaign.

Our goals and vision remain the same: Build communities where all Californians have equitable access to safe streets, improving health and bringing joy along the way. However, our efforts have a new sense of urgency as each year highlights the increasing damage of toxic emissions to our climate alongside increasing numbers of fatalities on our streets. We believe safe, active transportation should play a critical role in mitigating climate calamity and traffic violence, and bike advocates aren’t peripheral allies but central to this fight.

Introducing CalBike’s Invest/Divest Campaign

Change is scary and often met with resistance, especially from entrenched interests. But the time for radical change is now if we want to preserve a habitable climate for future generations.

To meet the moment, CalBike is launching Invest/Divest: a campaign to shift California’s transportation spending from traffic-inducing, climate-killing, over-policed, and community-destroying motor vehicle road expansions to Complete Streets and other projects that make it easier and safer for more people to get around by biking, walking, or using public transportation.

Our Invest pillars are:

Invest in Complete Streets: Prioritize new safe, accessible, and equitable infrastructure that makes biking, walking, and micromobility convenient and appealing. Invest in safe roadways for all transportation modes, bringing us closer to Vision Zero and our ambitious climate goals.
Invest in Just Streets: We’re expanding the definition of a Complete Street to mean one where people of all identities and bodies are safe from police harassment. To accomplish this, we must decriminalize biking and walking, including bikes treating stop signs as yields—often used in biased, pretextual policing—to make our complete streets safe for all identities and bodies. Remove discriminatory barriers based on class, race, gender, age, ability, and other identities and invest in communities where the safety of all residents is paramount.
Invest in Complete Communities: No more bike lanes to nowhere. Invest in connected bikeways and pedestrian paths that provide safe, integrated access to essential destinations, making active transportation a viable option for more Californians.
Invest in Thriving Communities. Invest in long-term neighborhood safety, security, and wealth that connects sustainable transportation options with affordable housing that is integrated with healthy destinations. We must empower the communities most impacted by harmful transportation investments to choose their own goals, strategies, and projects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, local toxic air, and lethal streets.

CalBike will continue to advocate statewide e-bike incentives by:

Working with CARB and our allies to help create an equitable pilot program

Advocating for more funding for e-bike incentives in the 2024 budget and beyond

To fund these critical investments and prevent further destruction of the climate and the environment and its impact on our most marginalized populations who face these injustices first and worst, we must:

Divest from Freeway Expansion: Don’t build one more mile of dead-end infrastructure that increases traffic, damages communities, increases fossil fuel dependence, and creates new maintenance bills that California can’t afford to pay. Divest from failed traffic mitigation policies that lead to gridlock, and invest those funds in infrastructure to move California into the future.
Divest from Climate Collapse: Transportation is the biggest contributor to GHG emissions, so we must divest from projects that increase VMT and invest those funds in low- or no-carbon transportation alternatives.
Divest from Environmental Racism: Low-income communities of color are harmed the most by toxic air, freight distribution, displacement, and gentrification pressures. It’s time to divest from projects that bring environmental degradation and invest those funds in historically marginalized communities.
Divest from Enforcement and Criminalization: Californians need safety from the violence of cars, freight trucks, and other forms of publicly-subsidized harm that especially burden and criminalize Black and brown bodies/communities. Divest from racist, militarized traffic enforcement and invest in community resources to support and protect vulnerable residents.
Divest from Policing as a Street Safety Solution: Law enforcement is often positioned as the prevailing authority on street safety, ignoring other forms of community protection. We cannot trust the police to enforce traffic laws equitably without the removal of white supremacy from law enforcement. Therefore, we must remove police enforcement from Vision Zero and other safe streets strategies.

Put your money where your climate is: Aligning transportation funding with California’s climate and equity goals

Where you spend your money shows your priorities. California prides itself on being a climate leader. But our state doesn’t deserve that title as long as it keeps spending billions on transportation projects that increase greenhouse gases while underfunding or completely ignoring much cheaper projects that could bring about the green transportation revolution we desperately need.

CalBike has consistently advocated for California to spend more on active transportation. We were instrumental in passing legislation that created the Active Transportation Program, which funds bikeways and other Complete Streets infrastructure across California, and we’ve successfully pushed to increase funding for that program. We helped secure funding for California’s first statewide e-bike incentive program, and we’ve urged Caltrans to add Complete Streets to repaving projects. We will continue to advocate for funding for complete bike networks and other green infrastructure.

Yet, despite all these successes, active transportation still accounts for a tiny fraction of California’s transportation spending. To align our transportation spending with climate and equity goals outlined in state climate and transportation plans, California needs to shift funding from harmful freeway expansion projects to community-building, climate-friendly, active transportation corridor construction.

In this year’s budget negotiations, CalBike will advocate for state funding to be divested from harmful freeway expansions and projects that perpetuate the climate crisis and commit environmental harms and invest in programs and projects that advance complete, just streets, connected mobility infrastructure, zero carbon micromobility options, and long-term neighborhood and community sustainability. We can easily afford to build the safe, complete streets and neighborhoods we need simply by shifting our funding priorities.

Investing in freedom of mobility

Recent events highlight how far we have to go to change the broken institution of policing and unequal enforcement of our traffic laws. Yet, California continues to invest in enforcement and criminalization strategies for street safety while ignoring or underfunding safe infrastructure and other community resources. Black Americans and other people of color are disproportionately victims of overly aggressive police enforcement and brutality while walking, running, riding bicycles, taking public transit, or driving. Our over-reliance on the police to solve our social and mobility inequalities creates problems rather than solving them.

In 2022, CalBike and our allies achieved a hard-fought victory, passing the Freedom to Walk Act to decriminalize safe, mid-block pedestrian crossings, but our work is just beginning. Going forward, we will continue to work to decriminalize mobility and commonsense traffic behaviors like the Bicycle Safety Stop. And we’ll work to reform traffic enforcement to eliminate pretextual policing and ensure that California’s streets are safe and welcoming for all identities and bodies.

Endlessly growing enforcement budgets have not stopped the ever-increasing numbers of traffic fatalities and injuries. It’s time to invest in data-backed, safe infrastructure solutions. CalBike will advocate for California to divest from harmful over-criminalization that perpetuates and widens social inequality and invest in educational programs and policies that foster safe mobility for all Californians.

Three tactical approaches to Invest/Divest

We will approach our Invest/Divest campaign through three strategies: legislation,

budget reform, and administrative advocacy.

Legislation: We’ll shape, support, sponsor, and work to advance legislation that addresses a range of strategic priorities, leading with safety and equity.
Budget: We’ll advocate for funding increases for active transportation projects and implementing Complete Streets by divesting and reallocating money from harmful freeway expansion projects and biased traffic enforcement.
Agency action: We’ll work with California environmental and transportation agencies like Caltrans, the Air Resources Board, the California Transportation Commission, the Office of Traffic Safety, California Highway Patrol, and CalSTA to steward state-level policies, programs, and guidelines to better support Complete Streets, align transportation spending with the state’s climate and equity goals, and deprioritize enforcement as a major street safety solution.

Boldly going where no bike advocacy campaign has gone before

In the coming weeks and months, keep an eye on your inbox as we’ll launch new campaigns on critical programs and initiatives and ask you to take action to help us succeed.

We’re excited about what we can achieve in 2023, and we hope we can count on your support to make it happen. Your emails, calls, tweets, and petition signatures make a difference; when lawmakers know constituents are listening and engaged, they pay attention. We look forward to working with you to build safer, more equitable, and joy-filled Complete Streets.

CalBike Insider: First Look at 2023 Active Transportation Bills

February 2, 2023/by Jared Sanchez

It’s still early days, and CalBike is busy working with legislators and allies to firm up our legislative agenda for 2023, but we’ve already got a few bills on our radar. Here’s an early peek at the 2023 legislation that could make California streets more walkable, bikeable, and equitable.

Pave the Bike Lane

Once again, Assemblymember Laura Friedman is leading the way with critical legislation to turn plans into action. AB 6 fixes a misalignment between regional planning and funding to execute those plans. It would require regional transportation agencies to prioritize projects that reduce GHGs and vehicle miles traveled and promote active transportation. It’s a much-needed change that will help move complete streets projects from planning to implementation.

Divest from the Freeway

AB 7, also by Assemblymember Friedman, ends funding for freeway projects that expand capacity for single-occupancy vehicles. It’s a policy shift we need to mitigate climate change and the toxic pollutants and displacement that endanger communities near freeways.

Safety Stop Redux

After the Bicycle Safety Stop failed to become law twice, Assemblymember Tasha Boerner Horvath introduced AB 73, which proposes pilot programs to test the effects of allowing people on bikes to treat stop signs as yields. While the many states that have already adopted similar laws could be considered (successful) tests, we support anything that moves California out of the dark ages on the safety stop.

Vehicle Weight Fee

Assemblymember Chris Ward has introduced AB 251, a measure to study the relationship between vehicle weight and rates of injury to pedestrians, bike riders, and other vulnerable road users. The study would look at the possibility of assessing a weight fee on passenger vehicles, making it more expensive to drive a bulkier car. We hope it disincentivizes people from buying more lethal vehicles.

Limit Pretextual Policing

As recent tragic events in Memphis illustrated yet again, giving police the power to stop, detain, and aggressively harass people for minor traffic offenses too often leads to violence, and even death, especially if the person is Black or Latino. SB 50, introduced by Senator Steven Bradford, would limit the police’s ability to make pretextual stops and thus limit racial profiling that continues to be rampant. CalBike strongly supports this measure because this bill will curtail the all-too-common pretextual bike stops that make riders of color even more unsafe.

The legislative slate hasn’t been finalized yet, and many more crucial pieces of legislation are in the works. We’ll have more to report soon when CalBike releases its 2023 agenda.

In Praise of the Classic Bike

February 2, 2023/by Kevin Claxton

We get some version of this question a lot lately: Does CalBike only support e-bikes? The question comes with a certain amount of tension behind it. Has CalBike turned its back on the original “beautiful machine?”

At CalBike, of course, we still love classic bikes (and walking and all forms of active transportation). We’ve been talking about e-bikes a lot lately because we’ve been working on and thinking about e-bike subsidies, both statewide and local.

But the standard or classic unmotorized bike remains one of the most ecologically friendly means of transportation. Here’s why we love the classic bike.

The most efficient means of transport

Riding a bike is three times as fast as walking and takes one-third as much energy. When the safety bike (basically our modern bike, with a chain drive and two equal wheels) was introduced in the late 1800s, the alternative for personal mobility was a horse or horse-drawn carriage, both of which were too expensive for many to afford.

Unlike horses, bikes require no feed or stable and don’t poop in the street. They can be stored in a minimal amount of space, are easy to maintain, and, if well-built, last for years. When bicycles were first introduced, they were a revolutionary form of transport.

Compared to today’s favored personal transportation (cars), bicycles:

Require 100% less gas than a petroleum-powered vehicle
Kill about 40,000 fewer people in the U.S. each year
Cost 0.75% as much as a car on average ($500 vs. $67,000)
Provide healthy exercise
Can be stored or parked in a hallway, bike locker, or rack — no parking spot needed
Are more fun per mile.

Mobility for the masses

Bike riding and activism have gone together from the start. People on bikes lobbied for the first paved roads in the U.S. years before those roads became dominated by automobiles.

In the late 1800s, feminists saw bicycling as a means for women to gain autonomy. Rather than needing to be taken places by a man, a woman on a bike could go wherever she wanted under her own power.

Susan B. Anthony said: “I think it has done more to emancipate women than any one thing in the world. I rejoice every time I see a woman ride by on a bike.”

In the years since, bicycles have often been associated with advocacy, from Critical Mass to the Black Lives Matter movement.

Why America doesn’t bike

The classic bike is a practical, clean, inexpensive, compact mode of transportation and, in some places, has become one of the most common ways people get around. But most U.S. cities lag far behind, including in sunny California.

Davis, California, sits at the top of the list of U.S. cities by bike mode share, with 17.48%. Nine other California cities make it to the top 25. But none of our biggest cities make the list — biking infrastructure in Los Angeles is woefully inadequate (though major kudos to LA allies who are working tirelessly to change that), and even more bike-friendly cities like San Francisco have very low bike mode share (2% in 2019).

The reasons are complex, but our built environment is at the root. Copenhagen became a bike city when it built safe infrastructure to support biking. We’re witnessing a similar transformation in real time in Paris over the last few years.

A bike is a bike

At the end of the day, a bike is a bike, whether it’s a featherlight titanium road bike, a family cargo bike, or a slow-pedaling cruiser. Finding the right bike to fit your life can make commuting a delight and running errands a breeze. It’s the closest thing to flying while staying on the ground.

And, if e-bikes open the possibility of riding for people who might not otherwise be able to get around by bike, we welcome them to the fold, not to replace classic bikes but to ride alongside them.

But too few people will get to experience the joy of biking as long as our streets are dominated by speeding cars and trucks and our bike facilities are inadequate and unsafe. So we have a lot more work to do to create space for people walking, riding scooters, pushing strollers, and, of course, riding bikes. We hope you’ll come along for the ride.