The League of American Bicyclists has designated the month of May as National Bike Month. The purpose of Bike Month is to raise public awareness of bicycling as a form of transportation. One of the findings of the 2014 Alliance Benchmarking Report prepared by the Alliance for Biking and Walking is that more people bike and walk to work in communities with strong bicycling and pedestrian advocacy.
Bike Month 2018 Recap
As part of Bike Month 2018, TAMC helped promote bicycling community events around the County. TAMC also partnered with the Salinas Cesar Chavez Library to do bike safety presentations. All events were listed on a bilingual bike month poster, available on the TAMC website and promoted via the TAMC Facebook page. Additionally, Bike Month events were promoted in the Monterey County weekly's publications and online page.
In 2018, TAMC kicked-off the first annual Go831 Bike/Walk Challenge. The Go831 Bike/Walk Challenge is a competition aimed at encouraging employees, students and residents in Monterey County to walk and bike to work, school, and shops during the Month of May. The 2018 Bike/Walk Challenge ran from May 14 - May 31 and included 47 participants who walked and biked a total distance of 1,851 miles, saved 1,502 lbs CO2 emissions and saved $1,000 dollars by not driving.
Bike Month 2019
TAMC staff recommends a different approach to promoting Bike Month 2019 than in recent years to free up time to promote the Bike/Walk Challenge with major employers and to host several Bike/Walk to School events in coordination with safe routes to school pop-up demonstrations in Seaside and Marina. Instead of designing and printing Bike Month posters, staff recommends developing an online Bike Month Calendar that can be promoted through social media.
The 2019 Bike/Walk Challenge will run for the full month of May and is being promoted through flyers and direct coordination with 6 employers:
- Monterey Bay Aquarium
- Monterey County
- City of Salinas
- Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital
- CSU Monterey Bay
- City of Monterey
The 2019 Bike/Walk Challenge will be promoted to other employers and members of the public through email notifications, social media advertisements and flyers. Participants may compete as an individual or part of a team. There will be prizes for the top team and top three individuals who take the most walking and biking trips during the Challenge. There will also be a random drawing for any participant who registers for the Challenge and takes at least one walking or biking trip.
Prizes are as follows:
- Random Drawing = $200
- Top Team = $200
- 1st Place Individual = $100
- 2nd Place Individual = $75
- 3rd Place Individual = $50
TAMC staff goals for the 2019 Bike/Walk Challenge are to at least double the number of participants, biking and walking miles, lbs of CO2 emissions saved and number of dollars saved by not driving.
In addition to engaging adult bicyclists through the Bike/Walk Challenge, Bike Month 2019 will include outreach to children in Monterey County. The MY Town exhibit will soft-launch in May at the Steinbeck Center in Oldtown Salinas. MY Town is an interactive children's exhibit which will provide opportunities for young children and their families to learn about safe walking and biking in a fun and engaging environment.
TAMC staff is also coordinating with the Martin Luther King Jr Elementary School in Seaside and Marina Vista and Crumpton Elementary Schools in Marina to organize Bike/Walk to school activities in coordination with safe routes to school on-street pop-ups. The pop-ups will demonstrate several draft recommended infrastructure improvements in Seaside & Marina Safe Routes to School Plan such as a road diet and protected bike lanes on Broadway in Seaside and curb extensions and crossing enhancements on Carmel Ave in Marina.