The Power of Bike Education to Transform Lives and Communities

Amid a pandemic biking boom, cycling education organizations are working to make sure access is equitable and inclusive.

Many Americans learned to ride bicycles as kids. I still remember zipping around a cul de sac in my neighborhood, shrieking with glee and reveling in my newfound freedom after the training wheels came off. But those who did not have the opportunity to learn to ride during their childhood often face uncertainty or anxiety about learning as adults. Bicycle education programs help those who want to become cyclists overcome that fear while also addressing problems in their communities鈥攆rom pollution to racial injustice.

And biking鈥檚 popularity has only increased during the pandemic: Bicycle sales in the United States in March 2020 as commuters sought to avoid crowded means of public transportation. Organizations around the world are using bicycle education to empower new riders and advocate for more sustainable, equitable, and inclusive communities.

Building Bridges

In 2015, Germany coined a new term, Willkommenskultur, to describe the welcoming culture rolled out to greet arriving refugees, many of whom were fleeing the Syrian war. This culture led to an explosion of new eager to address the needs of new arrivals. Few groups have had as lasting an impact (or as much fun) as in Berlin. According to Annette Kr眉ger, its founder, the organization teaches 鈥渨omen from all over the world鈥� how to ride bicycles.

For immigrants to Germany, where about own a bicycle, learning how to ride means becoming part of a community. On bikes, women 鈥渃an discover areas in their neighborhood鈥� and experience 鈥渁n improvement in independence, mobility, and security,鈥� says Greta Aigner, a trainer at #BIKEYGEES.

Annette Kr眉ger, right, and another #BIKEYGEES coach, left, help a woman balance on a bicycle during a #BIKEYGEES class in Berlin. Photo from Deutsche Fernsehlotterie/Jan Ehlers.

#BIKEYGEES was the German Bicycling Award in 2018 for its service to the community, its focus on women鈥檚 empowerment, and its promotion of sustainable transportation. Kr眉ger and her team now give regular riding lessons in 15 locations in Berlin and the neighboring town of Brandenburg. She characterizes the courses as 鈥渢wo hours of happiness.鈥�

鈥淵ou don鈥檛 have to register,鈥� she says. 鈥淵ou can come as you are. We only ask: Do you want to learn how to ride a bike? Or do you want to learn how to teach to ride a bike? We are all learning something.鈥� Kr眉ger鈥檚 advice to anyone looking to make an impact is to start now. 鈥淚t鈥檚 so easy to change the world, but we have to do it,鈥� she says, 鈥渁nd the bike is the perfect vehicle for it.鈥�

Making a More Livable City

Like #BIKEYGEES in Berlin, many bicycle education programs in the U.S. work with immigrants who did not learn to ride as kids. Lana Zitser, a Russian immigrant who has spent most of her life in the U.S., says she only committed to learning in her 30s to set a good example for her 11-year-old son who was also learning to ride. She says that while her older brother learned how to ride when they were kids, her mother was 鈥渆xtremely overprotective鈥� of her. 鈥淢y girlfriends who also grew up in Russia don鈥檛 know how to ride bicycles either,鈥� she says.

Zitser signed up for classes with an organization called 鈥淚鈥檓 grateful for the experience,鈥� she says. 鈥淣ow I ride around the neighborhood with my family.鈥�

Ron Durgin, co-founder and executive director of Sustainable Streets, says he loves empowering new riders like Zitser. He co-founded the organization in 2009 with the belief that turning more Angelenos into cyclists would mean turning Los Angeles鈥� urban environment into 鈥渁 more livable community.鈥�

鈥淭here鈥檚 this kind of mindset about Los Angeles,鈥� Durgin says. 鈥淧eople come to Los Angeles, and they think they have to buy a car.鈥� With millions of cars on its streets, people living in Los Angeles County are to 60% more vehicle pollution than the average Californian, and a whopping 250% more than San Francisco Bay area residents.

Ron Durgin, center in a green shirt, and a group of bicyclists prepare for a Sustainable Streets鈥� social ride in Los Angeles. Photo from Sustainable Streets.

Los Angeles County鈥檚 auto-centric urban planning also means its streets are less walkable and its residents have little access to parks or . Across Los Angeles County, there is an average of only about per 1,000 residents, which is a meager one-third of the .

鈥淲hether it鈥檚 air quality, water quality, land use, [or] the way we allocate public space,鈥� Durgin says, cyclists can have a big impact on city life. Research shows that cities with good bicycle infrastructure and more riders have , , and .

More than a decade after its founding, Sustainable Streets鈥� adult education programs have helped hundreds learn how to ride, understand the rules of the road, navigate their cities, and perform basic bicycle maintenance. The organization has also had great success influencing bike infrastructure. Sustainable Streets and its allies have lobbied the city of Santa Monica to improve bicycle parking and even establish a near its headquarters. At the bike campus, cyclists can practice riding and learn the rules of the road in a safe environment.

鈥淚t has always been a goal of mine to learn to ride a bike,鈥� says Julie Maharaj, who attended an adult learn-to-ride class on the Santa Monica bike campus last year. 鈥淸The class] has definitely given me more confidence and a feeling of accomplishment,鈥� she says.

Durgin says his best advice for other groups looking to start bicycle education programs is to lean on community partners. If you can鈥檛 find partners, make them. Sustainable Streets has gained favor with law enforcement officers, city administrators, and skeptical locals by inviting them on social rides. 鈥淲e just tried to weave [them] in,鈥� Durgin says. 鈥淭here鈥檚 just a joy and a feeling of freedom when you鈥檙e on a bike and getting outside and socializing with other people.鈥�

Leveling the Playing Field

Unlike Los Angeles, New York City is known for having its fair share of bicyclists. According to the , nearly 900,000 New Yorkers ride regularly, and more than 50,000 depend on their bicycles to commute. But that the majority of people who choose to commute by bike are wealthy and White. They are often drawn to bicycling for environmental or health reasons.

But for lower-income communities and communities of color, especially for people with disabilities or those who have health limitations, bicycling is or even desirable. Members of these communities often have to live farther from city centers and travel longer distances for work, often on roads that lack the infrastructure for safe cycling.

A Bike New York instructor talks to learners during an adult learn-to-ride class. Photo from Bike New York.

Bike New York’s Bike Library. Photo from Bike New York.

鈥淲hen you talk about access鈥� it鈥檚 not only about providing someone a bicycle,鈥� says Hilena Tibebe, board member of and founder of , which works to raise awareness of the racial disparity within the cycling community and increase access and inclusion for cyclists who are Black, Indigenous, or people of color. It鈥檚 also about 鈥減roviding someone a helmet, creating a route that is accessible for all, being able to ride a bike, [and] having the roads to bike on,鈥� she says.

Low-income residents and people of color accounted for in the 2000s, but they are also often neglected by investments in cycling infrastructure that make roads safer and more accessible. Instead, cities on the needs of wealthy White cyclists.

For Bike New York, whose mission is to 鈥渢ransform the lives of New Yorkers through cycling,鈥� these disparities are unacceptable. By placing its adult education and after-school classes, summer camps for kids, and bicycle libraries (an innovative program that allows kids to borrow bicycles in public parks for recreational use) in underserved communities, the organization is trying to 鈥渓evel the playing field,鈥� says Ken Podziba, the organization鈥檚 CEO. 鈥淭here aren鈥檛 enough people of color riding, and we鈥檙e trying to help.鈥�

Bike New York instructors and middle-school students ride during an after-school program. Photo by Ryan Trupp.

Bike New York now provides bicycle education to 30,000 New Yorkers per year in all five boroughs and has a network of more than 3,000 volunteers.

Podziba says that Bike New York鈥檚 largest boon has been partnering with the city and placing its education programs in local parks, which provide safe spaces for riders to learn and practice and for Bike New York to store its bikes and helmets. In the future, Podziba says he hopes others will emulate this model and that there will be better communication among bike organizations 鈥渟o we could all learn together, work together, support each other, build each other up.鈥�