On August 26, the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia lost its co-founder and muse.
In 1972, John Dowlin moved to Philadelphia, leaving an enormous imprint on his beloved adopted city. He co-founded the Greater Philadelphia Bicycle Coalition as soon as he arrived in Philadelphia after being inspired by his work with Bike for a Better City, a campaign supported by Mayor John Lindsay to convince more New Yorkers to use bicycles for transportation to alleviate car traffic congestion and reduce air pollution.
John and other West Philadelphia residents — including Bob Thomas, Nancy Drye, Bob Pierson, Al Hirsch and Gihon Jordan — met at a no-longer-existing bar at 30th Street Station and laid the foundation of the Coalition. They organized bicyclists to advocate for bicycle accommodations on all public transit, ample bicycle parking, and safe bicycle lanes on city streets, bridges, such as the Benjamin Franklin Bridge and Fairmount Park, such as West River Drive (Martin Luther King Jr. Drive). He co-coordinated the creation of the City’s first bicyclist commuter map. Many of the Bicycle Coalition’s early campaigns that John was part of (car-free MLK Drive, bike/ped path on Ben Franklin Bridge, a master plan for a bicycle lane network in Philadelphia) were realized over the next 5 decades and are still being worked on. He worked with David Rulon to invent the U-shaped bicycle racks that are used around the world today. It was John holding the “Where the Bike Lane” sign during the 1990 die-in led by the Bicycle Coalition at the ribbon cutting of the Walnut Street Bridge by Ken Yanoviak (above).
His 1970 campaign slogan “Bike for a Better City” is still being used by the Bicycle Coalition.
As said in the Temple Archives introduction page when the University received his papers in 2020, “Dowlin and the Coalition saw the bicycle as a viable, cheaper alternative to the car and the answer to environmental concerns, as well as traffic and congestion issues in the City. With a goal to increase bicycle ridership, they pushed for accommodations for bicycles on all public transit, including buses, trains and even planes, and safe bicycle lanes on city streets and even the Benjamin Franklin Bridge.” In 2019, John was wheeled over the Ben Franklin Bridge at the celebration of the opening of the ramp on the Camden side of the bicycle/pedestrian path.
John’s mission to make bicycling a commonly used mode of transportation led him to work on many passion projects. He was the director of the Bicycle Parking Foundation, founder of the international Bicycle Network, and editor of Network News and the Cycle and Recycle reusable wall calendar. Internationally, Dowlin led Tour de Cana, bicycle touring in Cuba and Latin America, and was president of Citizen Diplomats, ‘people-to-people’ diplomacy in Cuba. In the 1980s, Dowlin participated in Bike for Peace, during which he and other bikers rode together from Leningrad to Washington, DC. He worked with Rick Shnitzler on Taillight Diplomacy, promoting the preservation and restoration of Cuba’s old cars.
Dowlin was an active neighbor in West Philadelphia’s Powelton Village. Together with Drexel University and the Powelton Village Neighbors Association, he worked on the Westbank Greenway Project to improve the Schuylkill River banks in West Philadelphia. He also worked on preservation of Philadelphia’s sites and structures with Save Our Sites.
The Bicycle Coalition celebrated John’s legacy at its 40th and 50th Anniversary events and wrote about his work in the 1970s (here) and the 1980s (here)
Right to Left Bob Thomas, Nancy Drye, Sarah Clark Stuart, John Dowlin, Bob Pierson
In addition to bicycling, Dowlin loved tennis and swam on a daily basis and The Inquirer published a wonderful obituary on September 10th. His surviving children, Debby and Tim Dowlin, are holding a memorial & celebration on Sunday October 13, 2024.
2:00 PM
Arch Street Meeting House
320 Arch Street,
Philadelphia PA 19106
Debby Dowlin has a Go-Fund Me page to raise funds for his memorial at Woodlawn Cemetery.
Former BCGP Executive Director Sarah Clark Stuart authored this post.