Last week, Philadelphia’s hosted the Better Bike Share Conference, a gathering that brought together system operators, city transportation officials, social justice advocates, and people that work to bring bike share to every community, to talk about what’s working, what isn’t, and how bike share can be a transportation tool for everyone.
The Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia, the City of Philadelphia, the National Association of City Transportation Officials, the William Penn Foundation, and People For Bikes helped put together the Better Bike Share Partnership with the goal of increasing access and usage of bike share to underserved communities in the U.S. Philadelphia was the first city to utilize Better Bike Share, which helped bring about a third of all bike share stations we received in 2014 to underserved communities.
As many know, the Bicycle Coalition helped put together, and helps run, a team of “Bike Share Ambassadors,” who help run classes and organize around bike share in neighborhoods all over Philadelphia.
At the Better Bike Share Conference, the Bicycle Coalition’s Better Bike Share Team were in attendance to share their experiences alongside advocates from around the country.
“[Better Bike Share] was the most diverse bike conference I have ever attended, with sessions on everything from authentic community engagement, to pricing for affordability, to workforce development initiatives, and more,” said Katie Monroe, the Coalition’s Bike Share Outreach Manager. “Personally, I co-presented with Anne Krassner from Citibike about how bike educators can better integrate bike share into their work. I also moderated a panel about Mental Health and Bike Share, with presenters from Temple University, Dare 2 Hope, and Gearing Up. Both were fruitful, exciting conversations!”
Last week’s conference was Monroe’s last big event at the Bicycle Coalition. She will be leaving the organization at the end of this week.
Taking her spot as the Coalition’s Outreach Manager will be Waffiyyah Murray, who also participated in the event.
“The timing of this conference was perfect for me as I prepare to step into the role of Better Bike Share Outreach Manager,” said Murray. “I had the opportunity to co-present in a workshop along side Pati Gutierrez, Taylor Kuyk-White, and 2 of our amazing youth ambassadors Eva-Maija and Marcus on engaging youth in bike share. This conference gave me the opportunity to learn what other city’s are doing in relation to equity, community engagement, and workforce development in bike share. It also helped me realize just how inspirational the work being done by the Better Bike Share Partnership here in Philadelphia is.”
For all information on the Better Bike Share Conference, check out press coverage here and here. On social media, search #bikeshare4all to see images and reactions from the conference.