PeopleForBikes Committees Meet to Tackle Bicycling’s Biggest Challenges

October 18, 2022

BENTONVILLE, AR (October 18, 2022) /ENDURANCE SPORTSWIRE/ – Today, more than 300 bike industry leaders convened in Northwest Arkansas to take part in meetings across PeopleForBikes’ six industry subcommittees. It is the first time the committees have met in person in three years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Part of PeopleForBikes’ SHIFT‘22 conference, focused on moving the bike industry forward, the meetings reflected on major wins from 2022 and tackled the biggest issues and challenges facing bicycling and the bike industry going forward. See highlights from each of the meetings below.

Legal, Legislative, and Safety Subcommittee

• Thanks to lobbying efforts alongside partners in Washington, D.C., the amount of active transportation funding at the federal level was doubled in 2022, helping fund more safe and connected bike networks nationwide.
• PeopleForbikes helped save the industry more than $300 million through Section 301 tariff exclusions.
• The first federal electric bicycle tax credit was introduced in 2022, launching a groundswell of proposed state and local bike incentive bills.

Electric Bicycle Subcommittee

• PeopleForBikes, in partnership with Call2Recycle, launched an electric bicycle battery recycling program to suppliers and retailers, with more than 1,500 battery drop-off locations established across the country.
• PeopleForBikes’ Electric Mountain Bike Summit hosted land managers and advocates at the Truckee/Tahoe National Forest to share the national forest’s model for growing eMTB access on public lands.
• To date, 39 states have passed model, three-class electric bicycle legislation.
• PeopleForBikes supported electric bicycle purchase incentives at the state and local levels that invested more than $20 million in rebates and incentives for the purchase of electric bicycles.

Research and Statistics Subcommittee

• The committee sourced new and exciting data products from innovative partners like S&P Global to provide PeopleForBikes members with the best tools to navigate an uncertain market.
• PeopleForBikes added depth to their current data sets, including breaking out recreation and transportation riding data from Eco-Counter and state-level participation data from Sports Marketing Surveys.
• PeopleForBikes conducted primary research to inform new bicycle demand forecast modeling tools.

Membership, Events, Education and Marketing Subcommittee

• The committee announced plans for a major, industrywide participation campaign in 2023 to get more people on bikes more often for transportation, with a focus on car-replacement trips, alongside increased riding for recreation.
• The MEEM Subcommittee met in conjunction with the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Subcommittee and Sustainability Working Group to develop possible areas of collaboration to ensure widespread success of the campaign.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Subcommittee

• PeopleForBikes hosted two DEI-focused industry webinars in 2022, with more than 400 registrants. The organization sent DEI resources to all industry members and several members used the resources in staff professional training. The webinar recordings have more than 350 combined views.
• The committee strengthened continuing education opportunities for members with six sessions hosted by an external facilitator that several committee members brought back to their own companies.

Sustainability Working Group

• The packaging track within the SWG created the first-ever Sustainable Packaging Guide for the U.S. bike industry. The guide details actionable steps and best practices bike companies can use to improve all aspects of their packaging.
• The chemicals track within the SWG created a set of online resources to help PeopleForBikes members navigate the regulatory landscape of chemicals management, including state-by-state chemicals regulations and how to get started in setting specific goals for chemicals management.

About SHIFT‘22

A combination conference, industry leadership gathering, bicycle study tour, and networking event, SHIFT‘22 is centered around creating the bike industry we want to see. Inspiring keynotes, engaging panels, immersive workshops, guided group rides led by professional cyclists, and more will take place over three days in Bentonville, Arkansas, to move our industry forward.

About PeopleForBikes

PeopleForBikes is making biking better for everyone by uniting millions of Americans, thousands of businesses and hundreds of communities to make every bike ride safer, more accessible and more fun. When people ride bikes, great things happen. Join us at PeopleForBikes.org.