Looking Back Five Years: Biking During COVID

We all remember where we were in March 2020: hunkered down at home or going out to essential jobs — wondering what would happen next and how to keep ourselves and the people we cared about safe. One silver lining: a bicycling boom thanks to quiet streets mostly free from traffic. The pandemic accelerated the Slow Streets movement and showed many more people what traffic-calmed neighborhoods could feel like. 

During those early months, CalBike sprang into action. And many of our COVID campaigns have fed into our ongoing advocacy. Here’s what we’re reflecting on five years later.

Bike shops are essential businesses

With gyms closed and the need for outdoor exercise, many more people started biking. To keep their bikes moving, they needed bike shops for parts and repairs. Yet, in the early days, when only essential businesses were allowed to stay open, bike shops were closed.

CalBike worked hard to get bike shop employees classified as essential workers. Within a few weeks, we succeeded, and bike shops were able to support the burgeoning biking boom.

We continue to support local bike shops, championing their inclusion in the Electric Bicycle Incentive Project. And we’ve advocated for the California Air Resources Board to incorporate community bike shops, which offer classes, DIY repairs, and low-cost options to help people keep their bikes in good running order, into the program.

Bike exchange

Another challenge of the early days of the pandemic was to provide bikes for people who couldn’t afford to buy one. Bike Match stepped up to meet this challenge, connecting people with bikes they no longer used to people who wanted a bike. In some cases, volunteers repaired neglected bikes, sending them to their new owners in good working order. It was one of the many examples of kindness during that fraught time, and CalBike helped get the word out.

While many Bike Match programs have wound down, community bike shops, bicycle kitchens, and many community groups continue to match donated bikes with people who need them.

A template for creating Slow Streets

Many California communities created temporary Slow Streets during the pandemic. A Slow Street is limited to local traffic, making the street a safe place to play, walk, or ride a bike. CalBike spoke to local advocates from Oakland about that city’s Slow Streets program, using it as a model for others who wanted their community to follow suit. 

The Slow Streets movement has only gained momentum in the last five years. While some pandemic Slow Streets have been removed, others have been made permanent, and local advocates have been working toward Slow Streets networks. CalBike has sponsored and supported bills to bring down vehicle speeds and introduce slow zones, including slow school zones bills and AB 43, which allows communities more latitude to reduce speed limits.

Quick-build to bring much-needed infrastructure online

CalBike’s support for quick-build began before 2020, but the pandemic was a moment when we needed much more safe infrastructure on an accelerated time schedule. It was also a time when we proved we could make big changes very fast, so it was a great moment to highlight quick-build. We partnered with Alta Planning + Design to create a quick-build guide. Our Quick-Build Bikeway Design Guide remains a vital resource today.

CalBike continues to advocate for quick-build, and many municipalities have adopted these methods to quickly deal with dangerous streets and intersections. This year, we’re sponsoring the Caltrans Quick-Build Pilot Bill, AB 891, which would create a pilot to test quick-build techniques on state-controlled roadways. 

The pandemic showed we could work together, make sacrifices, and support each other in ways we couldn’t have imagined. It also reconnected many people with the simple pleasure of spending time outdoors, of riding a bike around their neighborhood or around the county. We hope we never go through something like that again, but five years on, we can see some positive things that came out of a dark time.