Congratulations to Washington & WABA!
Washington kicked off spring this week and Bikabout wants to inspire all the Cherry Blossom visitors to hop on bikes! Because the city does a remarkable job catering to bike tourists, we just made our largest donation to local advocacy organization, Washington Area Bicycle Association (WABA)!
Photo by JaquesofallTrades
Laying the Groundwork
Photo credit to PeopleforBikes.org
Our nation's capital was the first city to invest in large scale bike share and then doubled down with a protected bike lane on Pennsylvania Avenue, connecting popular abutting museums and bookends: the White House, Capitol and National Mall. Add to that a series of trails, buffered bike lanes and a host of hotels with bikes and you'll understand why Washington earned the most revenue for Bikabout.
Thus, we are proud to announce that as part of Bikabout's 25% Back program, Washington Area Bicycle Association (WABA) received $571 that we hope will help them advocate for even better biking.
As a board member for their sister organization, LivableStreets, in Boston, I am keenly aware that $500 is peanuts compared to some sponsors or even large donors. But in Bikabout's first year, I stand by our commitment to the vision and transparency of our donations.
North America is 10 Years Behind Europe
To be blunt, I want to inspire competition between cities, which means mayors, planners, engineers, councillors, businesses, advocacy organizations and residents all cheerleading and fighting for bike tourism. Imagine if North America competed with Europe, what your city's piece of their $55 billion pie would do for the local economy and biking infrastructure.
Bike tour in Amsterdam. Photo credit to IAmAmsterdam.com
Call to Action
To see how your city fared, check out our annual report. If you want to see that number increase, here are a few ways:
Travelers
Reserve your bike friendly hotel with us and check out our city guides.
Advocacy Orgs
Promote your city's Bikabout guide on your website. Share our self-guided tour maps when we tag you in social media. Your members look to you for inspiration, and they might just convince one of their bike curious friends to get on a bike because of it.
Locals who Bike
Visiting friends and family depend on you for ideas and recommendations for eats, drinks and sights. You can steer them to our maps or our curated Pinterest boards and Foursquare lists.
City Government
You know what to do. Hint: bike share and a network of safe and convenient bikeways that an 8 or 80 year old could navigate.
Tourism
Tell your bike friendly hotels to join as members of Bikabout. They'll get a custom, curated map for their guests to take the best bike ride of their life right out their door.
Wander by bike in 2016!
Bikabout features 19 places to experience by bike and we hope to add 11 more this year.
