In a new video released by the bike advocacy group PeopleForBikes, Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto says that Pittsburgh needs to re-think the modern commute: In 2014, not everyone’s dream is to own a car they can drive to work each morning.
The video was made in response to a partnership that happened earlier this year, when PeopleForBikes chose Pittsburgh as one of six cities to participate in a Green Lane Project that took Mayor Peduto on a tour of the world’s most sophisticated and successful bike infrastructures, including those in Copenhagen and Amsterdam.
Sarah Goodyear, in her article in Next City, prefaces the video with a statement that Mayor Peduto believes will be extinct within the near future: something akin to, “we didn’t expect this from Pittsburgh.”
“Pittsburgh may not be the first place that comes to mind when you think about great cities for bicycling in the United States,” Goodyear writes.
As Mayor Peduto notes, Pittsburgh has an extremely “dense core, compact street grid, and robust public transit system.” How’s a biking culture supposed to grow strong? With the help of a determined mayor and advocacy groups like PeopleForBikes and Bike Pittsburgh.
“When you talk about bike infrastructure and the investment in capital dollars to build it out, you’re really not talking about bike lanes,” says Peduto.“What you’re talking about is a multimodal approach to building out your infrastructure.”
Raising awareness doesn’t hurt either. Goodyear makes note of Bike Pittsburgh’s Drive With Care campaign, which aims to close the gap between drivers and riders by humanizing those who choose to ride their bikes.
Goodyear also notes that Pittsburgh’s comprehensive series of trails makes the city primed and ready for a more sophisticated “utilitarian” way to get around the city. The trails, in addition to the inner-city lanes, will make biking around the city almost a no-brainer.
Although there are some dissenters out there who think we have too many hills, too many one-ways and a too confusing street system, Peduto makes a final affirmation. “We’re still doing it, and we’re going to beat every other city.”
Read the full article here.
