Bikes Belong has selected Boulder Sports Research (BSR) to track annual bicycle and accessory sales in each of the four communities included in the new federal Non-Motorized Transportation Pilot Program (NMTPP). Congress authorized $100 million in August 2005 to improve bicycling and walking facilities and programs in Marin County, California; Sheboygan County, Wisconsin; Columbia, Missouri; and Minneapolis, Minnesota. Each community will receive slightly less than $25 million through 2009. BSR will also track sales in Spokane, Washington—a city that has been selected as a control city for comparison, but will not receive special federal money. The overall goal of the NMTPP is to demonstrate how bicycling and walking can be maximized as transportation solutions in U.S. communities—decreasing congestion and energy usage, while promoting better health and a cleaner environment. The specific aim of this tracking project is twofold. We want to demonstrate to Congress that the pilot program investments are encouraging more people to ride bikes, thereby boosting bike and equipment sales. We also want to show our industry that their investment in federal advocacy significantly impacts the bike business. The statistics gathered from this study will help Bikes Belong and other bicycle advocacy groups convince Congress to expand the NMTPP to more communities (with additional funding) in the next multi-year federal transportation bill. "Our hope is that bike equipment sales will grow in each of these locations as this special money gets spent," said Bikes Belong executive director Tim Blumenthal. "Then we'll be able to show Congress the positive connection between federal investment and bike sales. We encourage shops in the NMTPP areas to cooperate with this project—one that will benefit all of us in the bike business." Thomas Prehn, President of Boulder Sports Research, said, "We are excited to take on this critical role of securely collecting and reporting the sales data for our industry." For more information on Bikes Belong and the NMTPP, please contact Bruno Maier. For more information on participating in the data collection in one of the above areas, please contact JJ Rudman at Boulder Sports Research (888/971-0007) or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).