Bike Infrastructure Requires More Than Just Bike Lanes

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Better bike infrastructure may be key for helping communities become more active. However, according to a recent blog post from People For Bikes, getting people to use bike lanes requires more than just building them.

“It’s relationships first, understanding the culture and motivations first, and then infrastructure can be a solution,” said Anthony Taylor, of the Major Taylor Cycling Club of Minnesota, in a People For Bikes blog post.

The addition of new bike infrastructure needs to be planned in accordance with activities such as bike repair workshops and opportunities to have access to bikes. Otherwise it may be much more challenging for communities to integrate biking into their everyday activities.

“Infrastructure can’t be the only thing we think about as we work for better biking,” said Michael Andersen, a staff writer with the Green Lane Project.

Some communities like that of Portland, OR have been proactive about working to provide equitable opportunities for biking to individuals from the city’s growing Latino population.

In 2010, the Hacienda Community Development Corporation and Community Cycling Center partnered up for an initiative to learn more about the barriers to bicycling among a community of mostly Latino immigrants. After launching the initiative the two groups decided to continue working to make biking more accessible to Latinos and eventually the Andando en Bicicletas en Cully, bike club was born.

The group, which is comprised of mostly Spanish-speaking residents from the Hacienda community development, provides primarily Latina women with an opportunity to socialize while learning skills that enable them to repair their own bikes.

According to a blog post from BikePortland.org the group was also working to get better bike parking for the Hacienda development.

Read more about the Andando en Biciletas en Cully bike club here.
Read the full People For Bikes blog post: Better Bike Lanes Are An Ingredient For Great Cities Not A Recipe here.