30 Days of Biking initiative: Minneapolis

In the vein of how I argue that focusing on "Bike to Work Day," one day in May, which is Bike Month, is a problem, because we spend most of our outreach efforts on one day rather than building greater participation for the entire year, the Minneapolis 30 Days of Biking initiative is a program I admire.

It focuses on getting people to bike every day, starting in April.

-- twitter feed

From the website:

I created my 30 Days of Biking profile. Now what?!
Step 1: Ride your bike.

Step 2: Share your adventures online with the hashtag #30daysofbiking.

Step 3: Repeat steps 1 and 2 ad infinitum and experience pure joyfulness.

You're good to go!

The program started in 2010 ("The man who invented 30 Days of Biking," MinnPost).

In terms of developing an annual calendar of outreach programming for cycling for transportation, more cities need to add this to the program.

Past blog entries:

-- "Best practice bicycle planning for suburban settings using the "action planning" method" 2010
-- "Bike to Work Day as an opportunity to assess the state of bicycle planning: Part 1, leveraging Bike Month" 2019

Biking during the pandemic.  There has been writing about how biking should be considered an essential activity so that bike shops can remain open ("Why Is Bicycle Transportation Not Essential?"), while a spokesperson for the British Automobile Association was derisive ("Motoring group warns against cycling because of 'risk of falling off and needing medical help'," Edinburgh News), while in NYC biking take up has increased significantly since the onset of the coronavirus ("A Surge in Biking to Avoid Crowded Trains," New York Times).

Although in NYC, injuries are up significantly ("NYPD: Bike Injuries Are Up 43 Percent During Coronavirus Crisis," Streetsblog).