Better Bike Share Partnership Awards $89,970 in Grants

We’ve awarded grants to 12 projects that utilize a variety of methods, including community art, electric bikes and educational programming.

People for Mobility Justice will host classes on electric bicycling and bike maintenance, as well as provide safety equipment such as helmets and lights. (Courtesy Photo)

The Better Bike Share Partnership (BBSP) awarded $89,970 in mini-grants to 12 projects that will reach and engage traditionally underserved populations through shared micromobility. This is the sixth round of grant funding that PeopleForBikes will administer through its partner role with BBSP and in the coming weeks, we’ll be publishing more detailed stories about all of these projects.

“Better Bike Share mini-grants allow us to support and share lessons from small, innovative projects,” said Zoe Kircos, director of grants and partnerships at PeopleForBikes and manager of BBSP. “We look forward to learning from these grantees and seeing how their strategies help more people access bike share systems.”

The following projects were selected to receive funding: 

Reddy E-Bike Library Ambassadors | $10,000
Shared Mobility Inc./Reddy Bikeshare, Buffalo and Niagara Falls, NY

Reddy Bikeshare, in partnership with Independent Health, will join with East Side Bike Club and the Create a Healthier Niagara Falls Collaborative to use this funding to hire, train and support four community ambassadors to help underserved residents access electric bicycles through a new bike library program.

Bike-N-Ride: Linking Bike Sharing With Transit Through Art Tours That Highlight Community Narratives | $10,000
City of Fort Lauderdale – Transportation and Mobility, Fort Lauderdale, FL

The City of Fort Lauderdale will partner with local community-based organizations to host three bike tours featuring storytelling and art. The rides will coincide with and end at a local monthly art walk event.

Savvy Cycling | $10,000
Midwest Bikeshare, Inc./Bublr Bikeshare, Milwaukee, WI

As Bublr expands into historically marginalized neighborhoods with 26 new stations, system ambassadors from those communities will offer urban bike skills classes, free helmets and a complimentary 30-day pass to local residents.

North Tulsa Expansion/African American Community Outreach | $10,000
Tulsa Bike Share/This Machine, Tulsa, OK

Five new This Machine stations will be installed in North Tulsa, a historically Black neighborhood. The expansion will be matched with promotions, events and other activities offered in partnership with community-based organizations located in the area.

People for Mobility Justice ElectroBicis in Pacoima  | $10,000
Community Partners, Los Angeles, CA

People for Mobility Justice will work with Pacoima Beautiful to make 100 electric bikes available for long-term rental to residents as part of a pilot in the Northeast San Fernando Valley. PeopleForBikes’ grant will fund classes on safe bicycling and bike maintenance, along with safety equipment such as helmets and lights.

Justice on Wheels 2021 | $8,600
Family Matters, Chicago, IL

Practice rides and events, geared towards helping residents build endurance and community, will culminate in a 15-mile intergenerational ride through the Rogers Park neighborhood of Chicago. Speakers at stops on the route will explore themes of transformative justice and transportation equity, with a celebration at the end. 

Biki Ambassador Project | $7,770
Bikeshare Hawaii, Honolulu, HI

Biki will focus on outreach to Native Hawaiians and other underserved communities with the launch of a new Ambassador program. In partnership with a local organization, the bike share system will recruit, hire and train 10 people from the community to promote bike share and provide feedback.

The Way We Move: Making Biking Accessible for All in Raleigh | $6,500
Oaks and Spokes, Raleigh, NC

Reaching and engaging older adults in underserved communities is the focus of the events and activities in this new program. AARP and senior living facilities will serve as partners and an intern will be hired from a local HBCU.

Roll to Recovery | $6,000
OneFifteen, Dayton, OH

Through a partnership with Bike Miami Valley, OneFifteen, an addiction recovery campus, will support the mental and physical health of patients and staff by helping them ride. In addition to placing a bike share station on the facility’s campus, the nonprofit will offer helmets and annual passes to those who complete a free cycling safety class.

Allen County Micromobility Education Program | $5,000
Thrive Allen County, Allen County, KS

With this funding, Allen County’s free bike share system will hire a local ambassador to offer free bike repair workshops to residents countywide, addressing a common barrier to increased bicycling.

Segundo Barrio Mural Bikes | $4,300
Camino Real Regional Mobility Authority, El Paso, TX

Local artists will paint seven bike share bikes inspired by the murals located in the historically significant Segundo Barrio, introducing more people to the artwork and bike share. Once completed, the painted bikes will be part of a bike share demo and gallery event in the featured neighborhood.

Share Boxes for Bike Share Racks | $1,800
Green Apple Bikes, Inc., Manhattan, KS

This completely free, volunteer-driven bike share system will add share boxes to stations in select locations, offering donated items including bicycling safety gear with funding from this grant.

The Better Bike Share Partnership is funded by The JPB Foundation as a collaborative between the City of Philadelphia, the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia, the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) and the PeopleForBikes Foundation to build equitable and replicable bike share systems. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram or sign up for our weekly newsletter. Story tip? Write kiran@peopleforbikes.org.