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The US Bikes Belong Coalition has announced a long-term, multi-million dollar commitment to the Bicycle Friendly Communities Campaign in partnership with the League of American Bicyclists, the US equivalent of the CTC.
This is the second of two major funding initiatives of the Bikes Belong Coalition to deliver on its mission to put more Amricans on bikes more often, the first being America Bikes, the US campaign for positive outcomes for bicycling through the reauthorization of the federal transportation bill.
The Bicycle Friendly Communities Campaign is an awards-scheme that aims to improve communities for bicycling the most effective way possible – town by town, city by city. The Bicycle Friendly Communities programme provides public recognition, motivation and technical assistance for communities that actively support bicycling.
"There is a clear correlation between the degree to which a community is bicycle-friendly and bike sales in the community," said Lisa Robinson of Sportworks, and vice president of Bikes Belong Coalition.
"The Bicycle Friendly Communities Campaign follows a proven strategy to increase ridership by building community support for bicycling at the local level."
The Bikes Belong Coalition is the US bicycle industry’s advocacy voice and was incorporated in 1998 with the mission of putting more people on bicycles more often by promoting bicycling and assisting local organisations, agencies and communities in developing bicycle facilities projects that will be funded by the US Transportation Equity Act. Bikes Belong has awarded over $500 000 in grants with a return of over $250 million in funding for bicycle facilities.
