Tues. May 13, 2014
WASHINGTON, DC— Mayoral candidate Muriel Bowser, Mayor Vincent Gray, Acting U.S. Surgeon General Boris Lushniak, General Services Administration Administrator Dan Tangherlini and District Department of Transportation (DDOT) Interim Director Matt Brown are among the confirmed attendees to the DowntownDC BID’s Bike to Work Day pitstop May 16 at Freedom Plaza (1445 Pennsylvania Avenue NW).
Council members Mary Cheh, David Grosso and Tommy Wells also accepted invitations to speak and a Commerce Department official will be in attendance to promote the U.S. Census Bureau’s recently-released report on walking and biking. [Read: http://www.census.gov/hhes/commuting/files/2014/acs-25.pdf]
The BID’s pitstop event has traditionally drawn local and federal officials who choose to take the stage at unscheduled opportunities during the two-hour event to address attendees, who totaled 900 in 2013.
This year, attendees can walk down the BicycleSPACE red carpet to have their picture taken with special guest Barack Obama (on loan from Madame Tussauds) and other fun props. A DC Circulator bus, facilitated by goDCgo, will be on-site to afford cyclists the opportunity to practice loading and unloading their bikes from the bus’s front bike rack.
Attendees will also have a chance to win raffle items which will include one and three-month memberships to Crunch Fitness, two free tune-ups from Bike and Roll, bike equipment from BicycleSPACE, an annual Capital Bikeshare membership, a gift certificate for Teaism and gear from Riide, which will also be offering all attendees free on-site rides on their e-bikes.
Produce and snack bars will be provided by Whole Foods, water from DC Water and free valet bike parking from Two Wheel Bike Valet. BicycleSPACE will be offering free tune ups and water bottles.
Additional sponsors include car2go, the D.C. Public Library, FRESHFARM, the Green Festival, the National Park Service (NPS), Potomac Pedalers, Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, REI, RideScout, VIDA Fitness and the Washington Area Bicyclist Association (WABA).
Biking is on the rise in the District. The city’s bike-to-work mode share increased to 4.1 percent in 2012, according to the 2012 American Community Survey from TheWashCycle. An estimated 10,000 cyclists participated in Bike to
Work Day in the Metro Washington area last year and more than 14,000 are expected to participate May 16. All participants are encouraged to register at http://www.biketoworkmetrodc.org to attend pitstop events, to be entered in raffles and to receive a free t-shirt.
The DowntownDC BID supports biking as a sustainable form of transportation that contributes to the overall goals of the DowntownDC ecoDistrict and helps strengthen DowntownDC’s Healthy Communities initiative.
About the DowntownDC BID
The DowntownDC Business Improvement District (BID) is a private non-profit organization that provides capital improvements, resources and research to help diversify the economy and enhance the Downtown experience for all. This special district, where property owners have agreed to tax themselves to fund services, encompasses a 138-block area of approximately 520 buildings from Massachusetts Avenue on the north to Constitution Avenue on the south, and from Louisiana Avenue on the east to 16th Street on the west. As a catalyst, facilitator and thought leader, the DowntownDC BID promotes public/private partnerships to create a remarkable urban environment. For more information, visit www.DowntownDC.org or follow us on Twitter @downtowndcbid.