Enter Yay Bikes!. Expanding the conversation about bicycling for transportation is precisely what we’re all about. It’s why we work in the area of bicycle culture — not to create a “hip scene” in town, but to use areas of life like art and faith to get different types of people engaged in different types of conversations about bicycling. Because WE WILL NOT GET MORE PEOPLE RIDING BY REPEATING THE SAME TIRED TALKING POINTS! This is why I’m so excited to pilot our new conversation series: Faith & Transportation.

Each Thursday in February at 7:30pm, a small group will meet at Summit on 16th United Methodist Church to explore the intersections between our spiritual and physical journeys. To my disbelief, I’ve found no evidence that this topic has never been discussed at a church! But places of worship are precisely where we advocates need to be to reach a diverse audience and connect this issue with something unexpected, with our spiritual-not-rational lives. Here’s a series overview:

Feb 2 — Transportation as Ministry: God’s Design for Our Faith Journeys

Why transportation? Why is transportation typically overlooked as a concern of the church? Identifying the opportunities for our own faith journeys in reflecting upon transportation.

Feb 9 — Transportation as Movement: God’s Design for Our Bodies

God’s design for our bodies, transportation deconstructed = body movement. What do we need to think about when machines extend natural human capabilities? Identifying the opportunities for our selves in reflecting upon transportation.

Feb 16 — Transportation as ‘The Commons’: God’s Design for Our Communities

U.S. transportation policy — choices and their consequences. What kind of public space and/or transportation system would God design for us, and why? How might we reconcile some of the fissures our transportation choices have caused? Identifying the opportunities for our communities in reflecting upon transportation.

Feb 23 — Transportation as Transformation: God’s Design for Our Places of Worship

“Radical transportation” — thinking outside the box when it comes to meeting the transportation needs of all congregants. Social services models (transporting people) vs. empowerment models (helping them transport themselves). Creating connections within a congregation through transportation, practical next steps. Identifying the opportunities for our places of worship in reflecting upon transportation.

Please join us to make this a really meaningful conversation. Although there will be a Christian emphasis because that’s what we know, people of all faiths — and even non-faiths! — are welcome. See you there!

What We Assume About Cyclist Education

Education is among the most elevated of interventions to promote bicycling. As one of the “5 E’s” of bicycle planning, the availability of cyclist (and motorist) education is a major consideration in whether a place is deemed by the League of American Bicyclists (LAB) to be a Bicycle Friendly Community. There are a handful of cyclist education offerings, the most established and ubiquitous of which is the LAB’s Smart Cycling curriculum and instructor certification program, based largely on the tenets of Effective Cycling. A competitive methodology called Cycling Savvy is now gaining traction, and of course Yay Bikes! has developed our own How We Roll methodology to teach road riding skills.

It makes intuitive sense, of course, that educating people helps them be more competent, confident cyclists. We hope it makes them more likely to ride their bikes and more safe when they do ride; if we’re honest we probably also believe that, if cyclists would all just behave, motorists wouldn’t hate us quite so much (good luck with that theory!). But what outcomes do we actually achieve when people participate in bicycling education—fewer crashes, more riding, different preferences? Why do people using bike share programs have fewer crashes than those using their own bicycles—are they more experienced or less? Is there a difference between being an ‘educated’ cyclist as opposed to one who is ‘experienced’? To what extent can education get people riding even in the absence of bicycling infrastructure?

And…Who Cares?

I became interested in this topic because I keep hearing the same argument from experienced cyclists: “I don’t want bike lanes, but I want bike lanes so that other people will take up bicycling.” A recent example comes from Consider Biking’s Jess Mathews on ColumbusUnderground:

“The fact is, the want / need for better bike lanes isn’t for you.  They are for a lot more people who would try it, who may want to commute but don’t. I want bike lanes for those people. Let’s not forget that while you may be immune to it, there still IS a culture of fear when it comes to bicycling.”

This leads me to ponder—if experienced cyclists don’t want bike lanes except but for other people, then why don’t we just invest in education programs that get everyone experienced? That’s a much cheaper alternative than striping every street with lanes! But again, we don’t know what change occurs when people receive education and/or become experienced. A paper on bicycle infrastructure preferences in Dublin, Ireland, shared at the TRB conference, found that levels of cycling confidence have no correlation to the types of facilities that cyclists would prefer on their routes — pretty much we all want protected, low-traffic spaces with few intersections. When it comes to many of our high-speed arterials, I’d probably concur, experienced and educated as I am. Still, preference is a not necessarily a predictor of actual behavior, and it seems to me that if we have high levels of people riding and low levels of crashes, that is what matters more than anything. Can education make the difference in these factors and, if so, why aren’t we investing more in education programs?

A Proposed Research Statement

Yay Bikes!’ How We Roll bicycle tour has proven to increase cyclists’ level of confidence in four areas: 1) riding a bicycle on the roads, 2) fitting a bicycling to their body, 3) maneuvering a bicycle and 4) understanding bicycle-related law. A more extensive evaluation should be undertaken to discern participants’ riding habits, preference for various types of infrastructure, likelihood to identify as a cyclist, etc. before and immediately after participating in this education program. Follow-up surveys and qualitative interviews at 4–6 weeks would reveal whether increased confidence translates into different cycling behaviors. Research should inform the questions posed in this article and suggest directions for future research into the topic.

OSU, are you listening??!

On top of completing some top-notch community work in 2011, Yay Bikes! has also devoted considerable time to developing our organizational capacity during these past few months. And now, the spoils are ours (and yours!). Behold!

NEW WEBSITE—Today is a day of great rejoicing, for we have launched a New Website and it is Good! We hope it will allow you to get a better picture of who the hell Yay Bikes! is and what the hell it is we do…because we admit that it’s been difficult to ascertain heretofore (ahem…!). Unfortunately, the forums have been a casualty of this upgrade, if only temporarily — as you’re probably aware, they are old and ugly and don’t really work all that well. So we’ll need to make some substantial revisions before relaunching them this spring, and we apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Please contact me to participate in the forum upgrade and/or to sponsor it. In the meantime, comment on this post with any suggestions for improvement on the site or forums; we really appreciate all feedback as we work out a few kinks here and there.

NEW FOUNDING MEMBERS CAMPAIGN—That’s right, you can actually join us now. Like, officially! You’ll even get a card with your name on it, just like the cool kid card of your dreams way back in middle school! The first 200 members of 2012 will receive a “Founding Member” designation on their membership card, plus ride free on all Year of Yay! rides and get other goodies randomly throughout the year. For only $25 per person, this is a sweet-ass deal.

NEW BOARD MEMBERS—Ray George assumed Chairmanship of our board in November and promptly invited Jim Coleman, Bill Ferriot and Emily Burnett to join us. Thankfully they all said yes! We’re so excited for the new blood that we’re flirting with other folks as well, so if you are interested in board leadership contact Ray for a (no-guarantees) conversation. We’re particularly interested in hearing from women and minorities, as our board is weak in the area of diversity.

Clearly it’s an exciting time to be on the Yay Bikes! team, and we invite you to join us this year as we transform traffic in Central Ohio. Let’s finally DO THIS, eh????!!!!!!!