A group of folks on bikes on MLK Drive, the person in the front is giving the camera a thumb's up

21 HIGHLIGHTS FROM 2021

It was another year of constantly responding to shifting conditions, of working hard to ensure collective health and safety, and of embracing the challenges and joys large and small. In 2021, the Bicycle Coalition family — our staff, board, members, supporters and volunteers — learned a lot and accomplished even more. Thank you to all of you who were on our team as we pedaled toward a greener and more equitable future for everyone in Greater Philadelphia.

Read on for the things we’re most proud of in 2021.

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There were over 1 MILLION TRAIL USERS on MLK Drive

By far our biggest advocacy work of 2020 and 2021 was toward keeping MLK Drive as a street for the people. You all know about the twists and turns of the effort (and if you don’t, here you go), but the most important thing to remember is that because of our petition and the 5,800+ of you who signed it, MLK Drive became the most-used trail in Pennsylvania at a time when access to outdoor space was absolutely necessary for people’s health and wellbeing.

Lil Philly Safety Village in fall

We built LIL’ PHILLY SAFETY VILLAGE, the region’s first traffic park

Lil’ Philly Safety Village became a reality in August! Since then, the park has hosted a kids’ bike giveaway and a kids learn to ride class, both in partnership with Jaws Youth PlayBook. We’re currently working with folks at the Hunting Park Community Gardens and North 10 to envision programming for next year and add a permanent bike hub to the space. 

We raised over $25,000 for BCYC COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIPS

We’ve raised $250K over the past 5 years for 19 BCYC athletes’ college scholarships. 2021’s additional $25K+ will meet the financial needs of another 10 of our seniors who will be graduating and heading to college in 2022!

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Speech bubble listing the five critical languages that VeloLingo will utilize: Spanish, Mandarin, Vietnamese, Russian and French

We’re launching VELOLINGO

A new program to engage, mobilize and empower immigrant, refugee and historically excluded communities around safe biking and bike advocacy. We’ll be working with 10+ immigrant and refugee-serving organizations to provide resources in the region’s 5 critical languages and host bicycle education classes in Spanish.

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Families for Safe Streets got the City to procure CRASH RECONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT

This technology will help reveal the reasons contributing to motor vehicle crashes and help the City to more strategically redesign roads to reduce those crashes. This is especially needed on the 12% of the streets in the Vision Zero PHL high injury network where 80% of the traffic fatalities occur.

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Flags in the ground with names of victims of traffic violence written on them. Signs with traffic violence statistics in the background against a fall sky.
Transit Forward Philadelphia member at a table in Whitman Plaza with a sign that says "Tell Us About the Bus!"

Transit Forward Philly MOBILIZED FOR BETTER BUSES

So far Transit Forward Philly has collected over 2,000 online responses and over 350 in-person responses to their Better Buses survey.

LEARN MORE & TAKE THE SURVEY

WE GOT MORE TRAILS AND BIKE LANES

Making your ride better with more trails and protected bike infrastructure is at the heart of our mission. In 2021:

 

    Best of bike infrastructure 2021

    John Boyle riding in the American Street protected bike lane

    AMERICAN STREET BIKE LANE, the first raised-protected bike lane in Philadelphia

    View of the Delaware River Trail on a winter evening looking north

    CENTRAL DELAWARE RIVER TRAIL

    Groundbreaking of the CHESTER VALLEY TRAIL EXTENSION

    Scudder Falls Bridge shared use path

    SCUDDER FALLS BRIDGE SHARED-USE PATH

    View of four people with bikes waiting to cross the railroad tracks on a new crossing of the Delaware Heritage Trail

    DELAWARE RIVER HERITAGE TRAIL Rt. 130 bypass in Burlington County

    CHESTNUT STREET BIKE LANE at 30th Street

    The newly cleaned (thank you Policy team!) PARKSIDE AVE PROTECTED BIKE LANE

    GRAYS FERRY BRIDGE PROTECTED BIKE LANE

    Wanna see more? Check out Research Director John Boyle’s full album documenting 2021’s best and freshest bike lanes.

    & WE GOT MORE BUTTS ON BIKES

    • Bicycle Coalition Youth Cycling returned to in-person programming and 150 youth athletes rode with us during the Fall, Spring and Summer seasons.
    • 154 folks participated in BBSP‘s free bicycle safety education rides, and/or learned to ride a bike for the first time.
    • Indego bike share trips increased by 11% over 2021. E-bike trips Increased by 72%, with over 1000 Indego e-bike trips per day during the summer months.

    Our Learn To Ride Resource Guide — a collaboration between the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia, Indego, and the City of Philadelphia as part of the Better Bike Share Partnership — allowed us to connect folks with bicycle education when we couldn’t safely gather in person. The video features a cast from the Indego Champions program and was produced by Noise Soul Cinema.

    & WE SPENT GOOD TIME TOGETHER

    Our first virtual

    VISION ZERO CONFERENCE

    Read the recap

    Our second remixed

    bike to work & wherever week

    Relive the fun
    Group of riders gather at City Hall for the 2021 Ride of Silence

    RIDE OF SILENCE

    PHILLY BIKE EXPO

    WORLD DAY OF REMEMBRANCE

    HOLIDAY LIGHTS RIDE

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    EVEN MORE GOOD STUFF

    The Bicycle Coalition blog is your definitive source for bike infrastructure updates, community events and all the ways you can help make the Philadelphia region a better place to bike, walk and roll.

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