California Bicycle Coalition | Strategic Plan 2030 | California Mobility Fund
The California Bicycle Coalition, or CalBike as we are commonly known, was founded in 1994, and is the voice of the everyday bicyclist in the state capitol. We work to create equitable, inclusive, and prosperous communities where bicycling enables Californians to lead healthy and joyful lives. This Strategic Plan will guide the work of CalBike from 2026 through 2030, providing a path through uncertain times, towards a future full of bicycles.
Mission Statement
CalBike advocates for equitable, inclusive, and prosperous communities where bicycling helps to enable all Californians to lead healthy and joyful lives.
Vision
Safe, just, healthy communities where all Californians enjoy the benefits of the bicycle.
CalBike advances its mission in three ways:
- We conduct legislative and administrative advocacy, developing new policies at the state level which turn into laws such as the “Three Feet to Pass” law, and advance policy adoption and implementation within state agencies, through participation in advisory committees and through outside advocacy.
- CalBike provides education primarily through content targeted to legislators, people who ride bikes, and the general public. We advance with adoption of a mindset that values bicycles as a transportation mode, and bicyclists as vulnerable road users worth protecting.
- We are a movement builder, serving as a convener for local and regional bicycle and bike/walk organizations, and provide. technical guidance and support as needed.
Priority 1: Create a built environment where biking and walking are safe and accessible choices in all communities
Goal 1. Prioritize infrastructure improvements in historically disinvested and BIPOC communities
Goal 2. Prioritize vulnerable road user (VRU) safety in street design and roadway policy
Goal 3. Reduce reliance on enforcement as a safety strategy, and decriminalize bicycling and walking
Goal 4. Promote quick build for faster improvements especially where safety issues have been identified
Goal 5. Advance communications that focus on the need for safe and connected facilities for bicycling
Priority 2. Secure long-term active transportation funding to support the mode shift required to meet California’s climate goals
Goal 1. Win new funding programs, defend existing funding, and expand access to funding for active transportation in existing funding programs
Goal 2. Establish and maintain explicit priority for low-income and BIPOC communities and communities burdened by historic disinvestment and investment patterns in transportation infrastructure
Priority 3. Strengthen the power of the active transportation movement in California
Goal 1. Coordinate and build capacity of a network of local, regional, and state organizations dedicated to active transportation
Goal 2. Expand partnerships with industry, aligned advocates, agency staff, and policy makers to advocate for safe streets
Goal 3. Grow our base of highly-committed supporters and leverage in our work
Priority 4. Elect bike champions to public office and work in partnership with them to create a policy landscape that prioritizes bicycling
Goal 1. Maintain strong relationships with elected bike champions to ensure they keep active transportation as a priority
Goal 2. Maintain an energized supporter list and mobilize them to encourage bike-friendly policy decisions
Goal 3. Provide resources to all legislators to support bike-friendly decision-making
Priority 5. Strengthen CalBike
Goal 1. Build financial sustainability
Goal 2. Increase donor revenue
Goal 3. Support staff with optimal human resources practices
Goal 4. Plan for longevity
Values
We envision a California where bicycling is loved and appreciated by everyone for its role in supporting prosperity, health, safety, and joy that all Californians benefit from, and our streets are full of bicycles;
Where our communities are prosperous, whether rural, urban, or suburban, and all Californians enjoy a high quality of life and freedom from poverty, violence, and oppression;
Where our communities invest in affordable housing safely connected on foot or by bike to the places we learn, work, play, and access healthcare; in convenient and affordable public transit; and in abundant green spaces to cool our streets and provide open space;
Where decisions about transportation in our state are made by those who are most impacted and burdened by our current system and where low-income communities and Black, indigenous, and communities of color no longer bear the greatest burdens of the environmental and public health and safety impacts of transportation;
Where our public spaces, especially our streets, are safe, appealing, and accessible for Californians of every economic status, race, gender, immigration status, age or ability.
Statement on Mobility Justice
CalBike is committed to working to undo the structural racism and inequity built into California’s transportation infrastructure and policymaking. Transportation planning and policies have historically discriminated against, segregated, and displaced immigrants, low-income people, and communities of color, bolstering racial and class inequalities. Current mobility planning processes and decisions often perpetuate these harms.
CalBike is committed to advancing equity through infrastructure, expanding decision-making processes bringing underrepresented communities to the table, working to end the over-policing of Black and brown Californians, and more. We recognize that it is only by addressing and redressing anti-Black violence and violence against Indigenous groups, women, and other marginalized peoples that we will be able to achieve the equity, inclusion, and prosperity that all California communities deserve.
We work to reframe and shift the dominant discourse on transportation planning and policies to relieve historical and current burdens on low-income communities of color and to provide affordable, reliable, and safe transportation options that improve neighborhoods and opportunities in marginalized communities. We collaborate with, learn from, and center marginalized peoples and intersectional allies on issues of mobility justice.
At CalBike, we advocate for bicycling not only because we love the bike as a machine but also because we love how bicycling can make our communities better: more equitable, prosperous, healthy, connected, and inclusive.