creating bike friendly business districts

7/30/2019 Creating Bike Friendly Business Districts

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Creating Bike Friendly Business DistrictsAlliance for Biking & Walking Mutual Aid CallWednesday, August 28, 2013

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Working with business districts unlocks a world o possibilities or bicycle advocacy. Instituting a bicycle

riendly business district program can encourage more people to shop and dine locally, nurture businesschampions or bicycle improvements at the city level, and lead to inrastructure improvements like bike lanesand better bike parking. On this call, experts in the eld discussed how to institute these programs.

Advice from April Economides

Business Services Associate, Alta Planning & Design

Prioritize Stakeholder Engagement.

Stakeholder engagement is the least tangible but most important part oplanning a bike riendly business district.

Its important not to go into a business district with a xed list o actionitems. Listen beore you talk.

ake time to nd out what local business owners goals are rst.alk about what to do aer you take the time to listen.

Talk about what todo after you takethe time to listen.

About Bike Friendly Business Districts (BFBDs)

Bike riendly business districts are places where people are encouraged to bike instead odrive, and where merchants themselves bike, too.

April has worked with advocates and business districts in Long Beach, San Diego, NewYork City, Ontario and Niagara to organize bike riendly business districts.

In a bike riendly business district, sae inrastructure is the most important element togetting people on bikes. When the city wants to install bike inrastructure, support rombusinesses can be a big help.

Education, encouragement and marketing are also important in BFBDs. Consider orga-nizing community bike rides, ree bike valets and inormal bike share programs.

New Yorks Bike Friendly Business Program

ransportation Alternatives launched a bike riendly business program in 2010, and the

program now has over 450 participating businesses. Te program includes all types obusinesses, rom nail salons to book stores to auto body shops.

Businesses can become a BFB i they oer discounts to customers to arrive by bike, byrequesting bike parking or sponsoring bike lanes, and by hosting ransportation Alter-natives bike ambassadors. In return, businesses receive ree publicity rom ransporta-tion Alternatives, including bike rides that direct people to those businesses.

Advice from Miller Nuttle

Campaigns and Organizing Manager, Transportation Alternatives
http://altaplanning.com/http://transalt.org/http://transalt.org/http://altaplanning.com/


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Walking to and fromschool is an overall addto a childs health.

Creating a BFBDCreating a Bike Friendly Business District was a natural next step. A advocates decided

to ocus on the Lower East Side o Manhattan to buildconcentrated support among businesses and supportneighborhood bike improvements.

Te Lower East Side BFBD launched last year in part-nership with a nonprot arts group and 100 businessesrom the bike riendly businesses program.

Te neighborhood had a lot o bike trac already, but since businesses added incentivesor biking, the neighborhood has become even more o a destination or bicyclists. In a

recent survey, 24% o respondents reported relying on bikes as their usual transporta-tion.

o kick o the program, ransportation Alternatives advocates pounded the pavement.Interns and sta members visited nearly every single business in the district and hadone-on-one conversations.

Advocates ound supportive business people and worked with them over several monthsto educate others on the benets o the program.

Its important to listen to the community beore pushing an agenda.

Organize programs to enliven the bicycling community and encourage visits to shops:

A organized rides and tasting tours where up to 50 people could pedal through theneighborhood and sample dierent business are. Local businesses won new cus-tomers and ride participants got ree ood.

Bike ambassadors also oer date nights in the BFBD. Working with local restaurantsand theaters, advocates give out discounts or dinner and a show.

Advocates oer bike valet programs during events in the neighborhood to encouragetravel by bike.

Choosing a Neighborhood

Focus on an area with an existing network o bike inrastructure. Te Lower East Side

was a strong choice in part because the East Village eatures the nations longest pro-tected bike lane.

Find a neighborhood where biking can be a bridge. Te LES is relatively ar rom publictransportation options, so making biking more appealing made the neighborhood moreaccessible.

Utilize existing partnerships with local community organizations, and orm strong rela-tionships with new community groups.


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Partners can help youreach people you wouldnot ordinarily be able toreach.

Form Partnerships

ake lots o time to reach out to potential partners. ransportation Alternatives ormeda mutually benecial relationship with the Lower East Side Ecology Center, which runs asustainable small business program. Te Ecology Center incorporated As BFBD crite-ria into their program.

A also worked with Fourth Arts Block, a coalition otheaters, galleries and art institutions. Tis partnershipopened the door to new partners that A advocateswould not have been able to engage. Local arts institu-tions now give out bike lights and inormation, openingmore doors that A would not have been able to access alone.

A also collaborated with Local Spokes, a coalition o neighborhood-based organiza-tions rom the LES and Chinatown. Local Spokes listened to community input andound a strong need or more bike parking. Businesses submitted dozens o requests orbike parking, and the neighborhood now has some o the best bike parking in the city.

Draw Press and Decision-Makers

Engage local elected ocials. Bike Friendly Business Districts are a big win with electedocials engaging with the program gives politicians an opportunity to show supportor small businesses, or economic development and or saer streets.

Bike Friendly Business Districts are also a great press hook. Te program gave reporters

a lot o ways to look at bike riendly arguments. New York reporters seemed to especiallylove stories about local discounts or cyclists.

Know your Numbers

Research your district. Having good research in hand helps convert more reticent nay-sayers and show that their customer base is made up o people who walk and bike.

As East Village Shoppers Study ound that 95% o people arrived to the LES by bike,oot, or public transit. 24% o survey respondents said they rely on bikes or their dailytransportation.

A study also ound that bicyclists spend the most per capita and visit the district mostoen.

Looking Ahead

Te BFBD program changed the conversation about bike riding in New York City. Aslittle as two years ago, there was a common narrative that bike lanes were horrible orbusinesses because they created problems or loading and unloading. Tis program re-inorces a dierent narrative that businesses love saer streets, bike inrastructure, andpedestrian plazas.

ransportation Alternatives hopes to launch Bike Friendly Business Districts throughoutthe city. Teir second district will be with the Atlantic Avenue Business ImprovementDistrict in Brooklyn.


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Citations and Additional Resources

East Village Shoppers Study- ransportation Alternatives snapshot o travel andspending patters in the East Village

Lower East Side Bike-Friendly Business District Map (PDF)- ransportation Alterna-tives map and guide to their rst BFBD

Bikes Mean Business: Bike Friendly Business Districts (video) - In this video, AprilEconomides introduces the concept o BFBDs

Long Beach Creates Nations First BFBD (video)- April Economides discusses howLong Beach instituted BFBDs in Long Beach, CA.

About Bike Friendly Business Districts (PDF) - A fier rom Green Octopus Consult-

ing explaining BFBDs.

Bicycle Friendly Business Districts 2.0 (PDF)- Livable Communities, Inc.s guide toBFBDs

Advice from Charlie GandyConsultant, Livable Communities, Inc.

Lessons from Long Beach, CA

Start BFBS in areas where businesses are inviting advocates in and are looking or mediaattention. Dont limit your search to the city some potential districts may be ound insuburban retail pods.

Starting a Bike Friendly Business District is an opportunity to identiy local businessleaders as champions or biking. Part o an advocates pitch should be that biking is verygood or business.

Consider pushing Sae Routes to Spend. Oering a simple 10 20% discount to peoplewho arrive by bike helps to start a resh conversation.

estimonials rom businesses are extremely powerul. Consider partnering with a localbike shop to give a bike to a business, then ollow up to see how they use it. In LongBeach, organizers gave cargo bikes to businesses within a BFBD. Te bikes created moreinterest in the program.
http://www.peoplepoweredmovement.org/site/images/uploads/EVSS_Final.pdfhttp://www.peoplepoweredmovement.org/site/images/uploads/BFBD_pamphletMap_FINAL.pdfhttp://vimeo.com/60624768http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEYlfd-xGGshttp://www.peoplepoweredmovement.org/site/images/uploads/April_Economides_BFBD_Flyer.pdfhttp://www.peoplepoweredmovement.org/site/images/uploads/Bike_Friendly_Business_Districts_Draft_3_(1).pdfhttp://www.walkwithadoc.org/our-locations/http://www.charliegandy.com/http://www.charliegandy.com/http://www.walkwithadoc.org/our-locations/http://www.peoplepoweredmovement.org/site/images/uploads/Bike_Friendly_Business_Districts_Draft_3_(1).pdfhttp://www.peoplepoweredmovement.org/site/images/uploads/April_Economides_BFBD_Flyer.pdfhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEYlfd-xGGshttp://vimeo.com/60624768http://www.peoplepoweredmovement.org/site/images/uploads/BFBD_pamphletMap_FINAL.pdfhttp://www.peoplepoweredmovement.org/site/images/uploads/EVSS_Final.pdf

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