Last week the nation’s three largest bicycle advocacy groups, Alliance for Biking & Walking, Bikes Belong and the League of American Bicyclists announced that the three will not seek unification at this time. The three groups, which have worked over the past several months to unify as a single advocacy group, will instead operate independently, but in close collaboration.
The three groups continue to work together and have committed to achieving the following benchmark goals by 2020:
1. The nationwide percentage of trips made by bike will increase to five percent (from one percent in 2012), and the diversity of people on bikes will mirror the diversity of America;
2. Traffic injuries and fatalities (in all modes) will decrease by 50 percent;
3. Half of all Americans will have front-door access to a bicycling network that will take them to destinations within two miles exclusively on low-stress streets, lanes, and trails–protected from high-speed traffic.
The League and Alliance are developing plans to help state and local advocates get the most out of MAP-21, the new, two-year federal transportation bill, and will work with Bikes Belong on this, and other projects.