Members of Congress Lead Bike-Partisan Campaign to Support Bike Sharing at Conventions

Representatives Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), James Oberstar (D-MN), Thomas Petri (R-WI), and Zach Wamp (R-TN) gathered on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol today to issue a "bike-partisan" challenge to attendees of the upcoming political conventions: use the planned bike-sharing initiative to collectively ride 25,000 miles during the two events.

Reps. Zach Wamp (R-TN), Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), James Oberstar (D-MN), and Thomas Petri (R-WI) with Tim Blumenthal (Bikes Belong) and Heidi Margulis (Humana) on the West Lawn.
Bikes Belong and Humana have been working together for months on a plan to bring 1,000 bikes to the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado, August 25-28 and another 1,000 bikes to the Republican National Convention in St. Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota, September 1-4.

The initiative aims to demonstrate that bicycles are are an ideal way to get around crowded, big cities, especially for short trips. At the conventions, delegates, convention officials, volunteers, the media, and the general public will be able to check out bikes free of charge between 7:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m

The goal is for the two cities to collectively use the bikes for 10,000 trips and 25,000 miles. This will reduce the conventions' carbon footprints, traffic, parking congestion, and transportation costs while simultaneously showcasing bicycling as a healthy, fun, convenient transportation solution.

The effort is a spinoff of a bike-sharing program Humana developed for its Louisville, Kentucky, headquarters in 2007. The program's success prompted Humana and Bikes Belong to team on the conventions project.

A new website, freewheelinwaytogo.com, describes the program and allows users to pre-register in advance of the conventions. Among the first to sign up were the mayors of the host cities, including Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman, and Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Ryback.

"The eyes of the world will be on Denver and Minneapolis-St. Paul for these historic conventions," said Jonathan T. Lord, M.D., Humana senior vice president and chief innovation officer. "Bikes and bike sharing are a way for political leaders of the United States to demonstrate our nation's commitment and leadership in health and sustainability to the rest of the world."

"The time is right to highlight the bicycle as an ideal transportation solution," said Tim Blumenthal, Bikes Belong's executive director. "Nearly 40 percent of all trips Americans make are two miles or less—the perfect length to go by bike. With soaring gas prices, interest in bicycling as a U.S. transportation solution has grown. This is a perfect opportunity to demonstrate the convenience of bicycling for short trips."

Learn more about the conventions project.

• E-mail this page
• Printer-friendly version