Orlando’s long journey to Bike to Work Day.
When a few hundred people ride bikes on Friday to commemorate Orlando’s 18th annual Bike to Work Day, I will be among them as I have been every year since moving here in 2013. But for some participants like myself, Bike to Work Day is a normal workday routine, not a special occasion to put on a helmet and hop on a seldom-ridden 10 speed.
I became a car owner only after completing graduate school and relocating to Orlando to work for VHB, a downtown engineering and planning firm that has participated in Bike to Work Day since 2010. But bike commuting remains a passion of mine, and from October to May, when weather permits, I try to rely on pedal power to commute from my Audubon Park home to work and back, a 5-mile round trip. I’m not alone as a bike commuter in my office; one coworker bikes to work from Altamonte Springs.
Over the four years I’ve been riding my bike to work, the city has taken noticeable strides to increase the safety and convenience of bicycling. For example, Orlando has increased the visibility of bike lanes with green paint, supported the creation of a bikeshare program, and invested in bicycle repair stations at parks and trails. For its efforts, the city has been recognized as a Bicycle Friendly Community by The League of American Bicyclists. I have anecdotal evidence that the city’s efforts are working: In just the past few years alone, the secured bicycle parking cage where I work has gone from nearly empty to full during fall and spring.
As a transportation engineer, I’m excited to see that Orlando is willing to challenge our carcentric culture by adopting a policy called “Complete Streets,” a street-design approach that integrates walking, biking, taking transit and driving regardless of age and ability. Think wider sidewalks shaded by tree canopies, dedicated lanes for buses and bikes, audible walk signals at crosswalks or on-street parking. Cities large and small across the country are adopting the Complete Streets street-design approach as a blueprint to help draw in employers, workers, residents and visitors to their downtowns.
In the meantime, Bike to Work Day is a reminder of the city’s aspirations. But it also should serve as a wake-up call to employers, being that they are central to the occasion. A lot of employers aren’t aware that they could help support bike commuting and other methods of sustainable mobility by offering commuter benefits meant to reduce employees’ reliance on individual cars. For example, a shower room is a benefit to bike commuters.
Best Workplaces for Commuters (www.bestworkplaces.org) is an excellent resource for employers interested in learning about commuter benefits. My employer’s Orlando office and 27 other area employers were named to the group’s 2017 list of Best Workplaces for Commuters.
Quality-of-life amenities like commuter benefits and streets designed to accommodate people who walk, bike, or take transit make a city a better place to work and live. Millennials tend to favor urban living, and we take into account walkability and bikability when looking for places to live.
To its credit, Orlando’s leadership has embraced the changing attitudes about wanting options to get us where we want to go, signaling a resolve to put people before cars. This gives me hope that someday car ownership won’t be essential to living in Orlando and Bike to Work Day will be just an ordinary day of commuting to work.
Orlando is willing to challenge our carcentric culture.