Thanks for being part of Bike Streets. The founding idea behind our project is this: anyone should be able to ride a bike to any destination in their city. Today.
That temporal requirement, “today,” is critical. We’re not making a city bike master plan that might get built in 25 years. This is a way for folks who live in the community today to bike comfortably to the places they want to go.
There are two key elements to the project. The first is to crowdsource a Low-Stress Bike Map based on local knowledge that covers the entire city so anyone can ride today.
The second is to power advocacy with data. By making a Low-Stress Bike Map, we aren’t by any means suggesting that the city shouldn’t invest in bikeways. To the contrary, we’re trying to galvanize a movement to convince the city to invest more aggressively.
What’s a Low-Stress Bike Map? It’s local knowledge made available to anyone. It’s formal bikeways like trails and protected bike lanes, along with all the clever, quiet neighborhood routes and cut-throughs folks have discovered over the years.
It’s a set of routes that are comfortable for riders of all ages and abilities. If it’s how you get to ice cream with your kids, odds are it probably belongs on the Low-Stress Bike Map.
The data we produce comes in a few forms. First, the map itself is a wealth of data for a city to mine on how people already navigate the city, and how a connected network can be built quickly for minimal dollars.
Second, when people ride with the apps, every ride counts. The anonymized data your rides produce help demonstrate that there is demand for bikeways. Being able to say that a small group of folks have replaced 25,000 car trips goes a long way.
And third, points you add to the map help city staff understand the highly nuanced improvements that can make the network even better — concrete protection on a sidewalk next to an arterial street, a parabolic mirror on a blind corner, or a curb cut that makes a park trail more accessible.
Ride with the Bike Streets app whenever you ride. (If you need a bike mount, here’s the one we recommend.) When you need a route, use turn-by-turn and tap into local knowledge. Or tap RIDE and follow your own route if you already know how to get there.
Bike Streets is free for advocacy groups and it’s free for riders. We don’t serve up a bunch of annoying, invasive ads. (We have a low opinion of ad-based technology.) If you’d like to back the project, you’re welcome, but not required, to become a supporting member.
Learn more at: bikestreets.com/blog/welcome