East Bay Bicycle Coalition launches a new name and identity as Bike East Bay.
Welcome, one and all, to Bike East Bay! After four exciting, successful decades as the East Bay Bicycle Coalition, we are reemerging with a new name and identity. We will carry all the history, savvy, skills, relationships, and experience we have gained over the past 40 years into a new form that we hope will re-energize our work and inspire new people from many different communities all over the East Bay to get involved.
Bike East Bay carries all the history, savvy, skills, relationships, and experience gained over the past four decades into our new identity. 2013 was a remarkable year for bicycling in the East Bay. The popular new Bay Bridge Bike/Ped Path, won through years of advocacy, instantly became a regional and even international draw. Bikes on BART, which has been at the core of our mission since day one, passed a huge milestone, as the transit agency lifted all time restrictions for allowing bikes on board. Moving into 2014 and beyond, our goal is to inspire as many different kinds of people as possible to choose bicycling for their everyday transportation.
The new name is part of an initiative on behalf of the staff and board, to reach out to the East Bay’s diverse communities and encourage people to advocate for safe, affordable, green transportation in their neighborhoods. “We know that residents of every neighborhood rely on bicycling,” said Bike East Bay Executive Director Renee Rivera. “If cities just stripe bike lanes in wealthier neighborhoods, they miss out on a great deal of the benefit bicycling can bring to their communities. We see social equity as an integral part of transportation equity.”
Bike East Bay’s top priority is simply to get more people on their bikes for all kinds of trips: for fun and for everyday transportation. To do this, we have created the most accessible identity, the broadest tent to encourage more people to try biking. Experience shows that, once they hop on a bicycle, many people will keep pedaling! The partnership nature of Bike East Bay’s advocacy work is not getting less prominence just because the word “coalition” is no longer part of the name. In fact, we are giving partnership higher priority by integrating with new local working groups that are incubating in several East Bay cities, such as Bike Walnut Creek, Bike Fremont, and Bike Lafayette.
The uniform naming convention links the local groups with the regional organization, Bike East Bay, while at the same time showing their difference and independence. Bike East Bay is so proud of our storied history as the longest continuously operating bicycle advocacy group in the Bay Area that we will continue to share that history as we move forward to an increasingly bike-friendly future. Bike East Bay welcomes everyone in the East Bay to come be a part of our people- powered movement.