The Council Wraps up the Philadelphia Cycle September Challenge and Looks Ahead to Bike Month
Every September and May, the Council runs month-long biking challenges through the Love to Ride platform aimed at getting new and occasional riders to bike more frequently. Workplaces and riders across Philadelphia compete for prizes and encourage each other to embrace biking as a sustainable form of transportation. This is a piece of the Council’s transportation work to convert single occupancy vehicles trips to sustainable transportation options like walking, transit, and biking!
Transportation is the leading source of emissions that contribute to climate change, and private cars make up the largest part of that sector. Additionally, traffic and idling negatively impact local air quality and are a major contributor to ozone pollution which in turn can cause Air Quality Action Days for the region. Therefore, encouraging more people to take up biking, and providing resources to support them switching is a vital piece of tackling transportation emissions.
During the course of the 2023 Philadelphia Cycle September Challenge 412 riders took part from 56 workplaces and logged a total of 4,898 trips including 1,751 transportation trips which reduced CO2 emissions by 3,050 lbs. Of these riders, 96 were new and occasional riders. All told, during the month of September riders logged 73,235 miles of trips – equivalent to traveling three times around the earth at the equator!
One of the ways the Love to Ride challenge encourages new and occasional riders to get more comfortable riding is through courses. These short interactive lessons on how to navigate the complexities of biking help to build riders’ confidence – whether that is biking in all weather conditions, how to bike as safely as possible in the city, what to wear while riding, or how to make sure your bike is safe for the road. The most popular courses for Philadelphia riders include Riding in the Rain, Riding in the Heat, and Riding One-handed, which shows that riders are looking for resources that help them expand their biking skills and allow them to bike even when conditions are not ideal.
This Spring, the Council will run the May Bike Month Challenge and even if you haven’t participated before, or are not someone who thinks of themselves as a cyclist it’s a great time to push yourself to try using this sustainable form of transportation. You can set personal goals at the start of the month – whether that is simply getting on a bike one time, riding to work twice a week, or riding every day all month – it’s a great way to take fewer single occupancy car trips. If you are already an ardent cyclist, the Bike Month Challenge is a great time to encourage coworkers, friends, and family to give biking a try. At the end of the day, more people biking means fewer people in cars as well as more people interested in adding bike infrastructure like bike lanes and bike racks, which make it easier for even more people to adopt biking as a form of transportation.
