BCGP’s Former Executive Director Alex Doty and Education Director Megan Rosenbach were part of the group that visited Congressman Bob Brady’s office at the 2012 National Bike Summit.

The 16th annual National Bike Summit & Women’s Forum, a gathering of bike advocates, industry leaders, and congressional champions will take place again this year in Washington D.C from March 7th to 9th. The premier advocacy event of the year, it will unite the voices of bicyclists from around the nation on Capitol Hill. In past years, The Summit has shown its real impact with leveraging increased investments in bicycling at the federal, state and local levels.

Hosted by the League of American Bicyclists, this will be the first summit under the leadership of former BCGP Executive Director Alex Doty.

On Wednesday June 9th the Summit’s Lobby Day is open to everybody. This is your chance to be a part of the Summit and to meet with your Congressional representatives.  If you are interested in going feel free to contact john@bicyclecoalition with your address so we can arrange a meeting with your congressional representative (don’t worry we’re coming too).  With the 5 year FAST Act already the law of the land, much of the effort will be focused on asking members of Congress to sign on to the PHIT Act. This will allow for the purchase of fitness related goods and services, such as bicycles and gym memberships, with pre-tax dollars.

Business attire is strongly recommended. You are responsible for your own transportation costs, for example the current Megabus fare from Philadelphia is $9-$21 each way.

Speaking of transportation to Washington, I’ll be trying out Amtrak’s new walk-up checked bike service (bike fee = $20 each way). Amtrak requires you to check your bicycle as baggage but this does not require any disassembly or boxing. You then “walk up” with your bike to the baggage car where a staff member will place it in the baggage car bike rack. The service is available on a limited number of trains and only between certain stations. The Bicycle Coalition has been a part of the campaign for better bike access on Amtrak for the past two decades and we hope that Amtrak expands the service to more trains in the near future.