US Transportation Secretary Mary Peters stepped in some deep doo-doo with her dismissal of bicycling as transportation on The News Hour With Jim Lehrer aired August 15, 2007. Secretary Peters is certain to receive a bundle of mail from our bicycling allies nationwide who depend on the access and safety of bicycle transportation facilities funded through federal Transportation Enhancements in every Congressional transportation spending bill since 1991 (ISTEA). An effective response always needs to be coordinated by the advocates who most frequently face the particular official. In this case, EBBC immediately shared our grassroots outrage with Andy Clarke at the League of American Bicyclists (LAB) in Washington DC. Andy and LAB responded by the following morning with a tremendous website offering an option for individuals to write to Secretary Peters. Please visit LAB to reply. You are encouraged to share with Secretary Peters your own “bicycling for transportation” anecdotes and needs, or note the inequities faced by bicyclists. In California, bicyclists and pedestrians represent 11.5% of all trips, but bicyclists and pedestrians also represent a disproportionate 20% of injury crashes and receive less than 1% of state transportation funding. Money is not squandered on bicyclists. The Metropolitan Transportation Commission’s review of EBBC’s Safe Routes to Transit program found that bicycle projects were the most cost-effective means of reducing congestion on State toll bridges in the Bay Area. The bottom line is that not enough spending is made to close gaps and improve safety. Bicyclists and pedestrians need to be routinely accommodated in all transportation projects.