TOOLKIT: NEW TO BICYCLE ADVOCACY?

Congrats, you’re in the right space to bring your bicycle-related ideas to life!

Have no idea where to start or how this works? No worries, we’ll walk you through some of the basics so you can better understand and utilize the bicycle advocacy toolkit.

First, What can you achieve through bicycle advocacy?

We’re glad you asked! Bicycle advocacy is a powerful platform and process to voice the concerns or ideas of a community to our elected public officials. By reaching out our public officials, we are better informing them of our needs and wants. Here are some common requests within bicycle advocacy:

  • Creation of a bicycle lane or other bicycle safety feature

  • Additional bicycle parking infrastructure and amenities

  • Trail creation or maintenance at your local park

  • Raising awareness and initiating change for an unsafe intersection in your neighborhood

Wondering what else might be needed in your neighborhood? Here are some additional considerations.

We are often primarily concerned about improving the bicycling experience for ourselves; however, we are not the only ones utilizing the streets, parks, and bicycle facilities! Through bicycle advocacy, you may find a large number of like-minded individuals or an existing group who shares your vision.

Wait, Who else is part of bicycle advocacy?

The short answer? Lots of people, including yourself! Here’s a diagram of who else is part of the bicycling ecosystem:

bicycle_advocates.jpg

Depending on the scope and scale of your advocacy plans, they may require communication and collaboration beyond you and your community. Interested in learning more?

Ok, I’ve got an idea…what’s the next step?

Awesome! So you’re ready to start the journey. While there’s no set path, it can be helpful to follow this progression:

And while you certainly don’t need to know all the transportation planning concepts and technical lingo, we’ve got you covered!

Want to share your idea with us? Have any feedback for us about the bicycle advocacy toolkit? Reach out to us at chris@bikeutah.org!