Santa Cruz County Bike to Work/School Program 2005
Program Summary/Annual Report

Program Summary:
The Bike to Work/School Day (BTW/S) program continues to generate the most extensive publicity, outreach, projects and public education for bicycle transportation in Santa Cruz County. This nineteen year-old community program provides local employers, employees and residents with quality education, incentives, and services. BTW initiated several new activities in the effort to move more residents to bike commute. BTW also collected important data quantifying the program’s impact in reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

(Download PDF file of Report)

Major Accomplishments:
Combined figures for 2005:
• 5,971 residents rode their bikes on the spring & fall Bike to Work/School Days. 4,520 kids/parents/teachers biked for BTS. 1,349 adults biked on the spring and fall BTW/S Days.
• 160 beginning bicycle commuters participated in the spring and fall BTW/S Day events.
• Over 37% (545 cyclists) were first time Bike to Work Day participants.
• 29,194 pounds of CO2 emissions were prevented from being released into the atmosphere through the BTW/S Day bike mileage of all participants.

Spring 2005 Bike To Work/School Day Facts and Numbers
• 2,731 total participants. Rain kept the turnout lower than usual but didn’t deter many adults and kids from following through on their commitment to bicycle. They also didn’t want to miss out on their free breakfast.
• Mintie White Elementary School in Watsonville had the highest turnout with 240 students, parents and school staff due to Bike Smart’s Youth Bicycle Safety preparation.
• Ann Soldo School in Watsonville participated for the first time with 161 cyclists.
• 2,060 elementary, middle, junior high and high school students bicycled to school despite the rain. 671 adults participated in BTW public sites.
• Despite the rain, 25 schools participated – the most ever.
• 85 beginning cyclists participated in BTW. This was only a slight decrease and significant number considering the rain.

Spring Highlights:
• Although the rain kept the turnout lower than expected, many who braved the wet weather discovered that biking in the rain is manageable.
• 10 school sites had over 100 students bike to school.
• Watsonville’s schools had a total of 401 participants.
• Initiated new Rail and Trail Day event that attracted over 500 participants. The multi-modal event featured a train ride from Santa Cruz to Felton and group bike ride from Felton to Santa Cruz with a CHP escort.
• Coordinated with BikeSmart to provide bike safety education to first time participating schools.
• 13,194 pounds of CO2 emissions were prevented from being released into the atmosphere through the BTW/S Day bike mileage of all participants.

Major Incentives:
• A $1,000 drawing for AMBAG’s Clean Air Month Alternative Transportation pledge.
• Prize drawings of a mountain and commute bike for Bike to Work participants.
• Bike safety equipment for company prize drawings for employees who biked to work.
• A prize drawing of a rechargeable bike light for those attending the bike safety class.

Fall 2005 Bike To Work/School Day Facts and Numbers
• 3,240 total participants. Second highest fall participation numbers.
• Bike to School had participation of 2,460 elementary through high school students bicycling. 780 adults participated in BTW public sites.
• Highest fall numbers for the downtown Santa Cruz Jamba Juice site with 321.
• Participants biked a total of 16,495 miles.

Fall Highlights:
• Distributed ten bike safety DVD and video to parents and teachers at participating schools. We continue to distribute these UCSC-produced DVD and videos.
• Conducted bike helmet safety checks for some 500 children who participated in the Super Kids Triathlon.
• Three schools had over 200 kids bike to school.
• 11 schools had over 100 kids cycle to school.
• Six of the schools had all time best participation rates with many having significant percentage increases from past events.
• Spring Hill School had over half their student body biking to school.
• 16,000 pounds of CO2 emissions were prevented from being released into the atmosphere through the BTW/S Day bike mileage of all participants.

Participants bike more because of Bike to Work:

Continued a trend from last year as over 39% of the Bike to Work Day participants said they bicycle more because of Bike to Work. Many said the event “motivated,” “inspired,” “encouraged,” and was “a good reminder” to get them to bike. Here is what some others said:

• “Got me interested,”
• “It reinforces and promotes awareness,”
• “I am a teacher and my students need an example.”
• “It’s a great thing.”
• “It’s an opportunity to learn more about bikes.”
• “It challenges me.”
• “Biking with a group is fun.”
Quotes and data taken from 2005 Bike to Work surveys.

Why people don’t bike commute more often:

For the past three years we asked what is the number one reason people don’t bike commute more often. A total of 692 participants answered this question in 2005. There were a wide variety of answers, but the top answers do reveal what barriers to address in helping commuters bicycle more often. We continue to distribute our Tips for Winter Bike Riding pamphlet to help those deterred from biking because of bad weather.

The top five reasons:
• Weather/Rain (11%)
• Too far/Distance (7%)
• Tired/Lazy (6%)
• Lack of time (5.5%)
• Too much to carry (3%)
Data taken from 2005 Bike to Work surveys.

Event Highlights:

Bike Festival
Spring Bike Week kicked off with the most successful Bicycle Trip Bike Fest to date. The popular Santa Cruz Eastside event successfully mixed entertainment with hands on education and information booths. The event featured a Kid’s Bicycle Safety Obstacle Course run by Bike Smart! Youth Bicycle Safety program, bicycle resource booths by Bike to Work and the Santa Cruz County Cycling Club, Giant Bicycles’ Pro Air and BMX stunt show, Pro Skateboard stunt show by Skateworks. Besides fully sponsoring the stunt shows the Bicycle Trip Bicycle Shop also paid for a free barbeque, raffle, and live music by Stone Grove. Santa Cruz X broadcasted a live radio remote. Several hundred kids, families and residents attended this fun-filled and educational event. The Bike Smart! safety course was filled to capacity with eager children practicing bike safety on a simulated street with cut-out cars, railroad crossings, stop signs, and driveways.

Watsonville Commute Race
We added a new twist to this popular event, a la reality TV, with scavenger hunt challenges thrown into the race between a bicyclist, a motorist, an electric bicyclist, and a unicyclist through the streets of Watsonville. The race began at Landmark School on Ohlone Parkway, and ended at the Watsonville Downtown Plaza, with participants stopping at Nob Hill to buy apples, and Lucy’s Tamale Factory to buy tamales. It was a close race, but the motorist won the race. Watsonville Council member Antonia Rivas won in his Toyota Prius. Both the Santa Cruz Sentinel and Register Pajaronian printed stories and photos.

Rail and Trail Day
This first time event was extremely successful and proved to be the perfect way to conclude Bike Week and excite residents about alternative transportation solutions within Santa Cruz County. Over 500 kids, teenagers and adults came out to ride the Roaring Camp Train up to Felton from Depot Park in Santa Cruz for a discounted price of $3.00 each way. 250 of the participants threw their bikes on the train and joined in a group bike ride down Highway 9, complete with CHP escort to allow the riders a car-free and scenic ride. Many people said it was the best event of the year.

Annual Promotion:
• Two front-page feature article, 2 other articles and photographs in the Santa Cruz Sentinel.
• Six ads in the Santa Cruz Sentinel.
• 200 TV ads on Comcast Cable.
• Street banners placed along major streets in Watsonville, Capitola, and Santa Cruz.
• Large format banner placed at the main entrance of UCSC.
• The Good Times ads in 2 issues.
• An article with photographs in the Register-Pajaronian.
• Bike Week mention in Sierra Club newsletter/magazine.
• Two prominent front page articles and photographs in the Santa Cruz County Cycling Clubs newsletter.
• Ads in most of the area's recreation guides, including the UCSC recreation guide.
• Ads in the following publications: Santa Cruz Sentinel, Good Times, The Connection Magazine, Growing up in Santa Cruz, and The Student Guide.
• Two weeks of ads & PSA's on KPIG radio.
• Two weeks of Spanish radio ads on KLOK and affiliated radio stations.
• KUSP & KSCO radio interviews.
• AMBAG Clean Air Month promotions for Bike Week.
• 3,000 hits on program website (www.bike2work.com) during Bike Week.
• Listed on websites of numerous organizations including the RTC’s, People Power, Santa Cruz County Cycling Club, and Ecology Action.
• Over 8,000 email announcements delivered.
• Two Roadside signs on Highway One.
• Banners placed at most of the public breakfast stops one week prior to the event.
• High quality vinyl directional signs placed near all the City of Santa Cruz breakfast sites on Bike to Work Day.
• 2,000 4-color event posters displayed at storefronts, businesses, and offices throughout Santa Cruz County.
• All event posters were published in English and Spanish.
• 325 event T-shirts produced and distributed.
• 5,000 event brochures distributed to businesses, public agencies and individuals.
• Gave away some 1,500 Bike Week water bottles with BTW art and URL. The custom made water bottles were donated by Specialized.
• Announcements at local public hearings and meetings.
• Tabling at special events in April and May. As well as August and September tabling at UCSC, Cabrillo College’s main campus and Watsonville campus, and the Santa Cruz downtown Farmer’s Market. October tabling at Threshold Enterprise and Plantronics.

Bike to School Promotions:
• Bike to School promotional flyers in English/Spanish distributed to all participating schools.
• 4-color posters, in English and Spanish, distributed to all participating schools.
• Educational/informational bicycling materials on safety, helmet guidelines, traffic rules and regulations, etc. Many materials were in English and Spanish.
• Worked with Bike Smart and the Community Traffic Safety Coalition (CTSC) to produce school presentations about safety, helmet guidelines, traffic rules and regulations, responsible bicycling, etc.
• Bike Week black and white poster art reproduced for school kids to color in and add their own bike message. These coloring in sheets were distributed to elementary and grade schools.
• UCSC TAPS produced Bike safety DVD and videos distributed to teachers and parents.

Sponsors and Contributions:
Bike to Work continues to receive strong support from local businesses and public agencies with
75 sponsors for spring Bike Week. These sponsors contributed cash, products, and services to the
program. Twenty-three private and public sponsors donated $18,100 in cash. This year there
were several new sponsors and many continuing sponsors increased their contributions despite
the current economic downturn.

An estimated $50,000 worth of products (breakfast food and drinks, promotional materials and
ads, and event supplies) were donated along with $26,000 in-kind staff and volunteer time.
Volunteer services were donated to plan, implement, and promote the various Bike Week
activities.

Bike Buddy goes Online:
Santa Cruz County residents continue to have access to San Francisco Bay Area online bike buddy matching service. Santa Cruz County area residents can now sign-up for the Bike Buddy service online at 511.org and receive instant matches. The Bike Buddy services matches novice cyclists with experienced cyclists for bikepooling. The program also matches experienced bicycle commuters who are looking for commute partners. Commute partners can help motivate one another to ride more regularly and therefore further reduce trips car trips to work.

Collaboration:
Bike Week's success relies on extensive collaboration with community groups, public agencies and local businesses. This year we strengthened our partnership with these entities to get more people to drive less and bike commute more in a safe and responsible manner. We worked jointly with the host agencies of Bike Week in Monterey and San Benito Counties to increase promotion in the tri-county area. We continue to work with an increasing number of local schools to boost Bike to School participation, city and county agencies for better planning and promotion, and with business sponsors for better outreach and information to their employees.

The following is a partial list of our partnerships:
• The Santa Cruz Area Transportation Management Association (SCATMA): The non-profit umbrella organization the Bike to Work program.
• Ecology Action: Ongoing partner in promotion, shares office space, staffing, and equipment.
• Regional Bike Week programs: Coordinated with Monterey and San Benito Counties in sharing artwork, poster and T-shirt production to reduce cost and produce an unified look, coordinated promotion of Bike Week through shared radio and TV stations, website, highway signs and shared in expense of product giveaways.
• Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission: Provided major cash funding and promotional support of BTW outreach materials, the Bike Committee provided input to Bike Week event planning and BTW updated the Committee on our activities. BTW distributes hundreds of the RTC's Bikeway maps and promotes it’s bike services. Bike to Work promoted and distributed the RTC’s Bike Hazard reporting form to fall BTW participants.
• The Community Traffic Safety Coalition (CTSC): BTW distributes CTSC bike safety pamphlets, BTW staff attend CTSC monthly meetings and CTSC staffed a BTW Day breakfast site and CTSC staff attend Bike to Work Steering Committee meetings, CTSC school bike safety presentations are coordinated with Bike to School activities.
• Bike Smart! Youth Bicycle Safety Program: Conducted bicycle safety programs including bicycle obstacles courses at several of the highest participating Bike to School Day schools.
• Pajaro Valley Transportation Management Association: Provided funding, promotional support, and staffing for Bike Week in south county.
• The City of Santa Cruz: Provided cash funding, staff support for promotions, facilities and equipment, as well as permit fee waivers.The City Bike Coordinator and the Transportation Coordinator are BTW Advisory Board members.
• County of Santa Cruz Public Works Department: Staff places “Share the Road” and directional signs on county streets to notify motorists to be careful of cyclists and to direct cyclists to the Bike to Work/School breakfast sites.
• City of Watsonville: Provided cash funding, staff support for internal promotion, facility use and fee waivers.
• City of Scotts Valley: Provided staff support for internal promotions.
• City of Capitola: Provided cash and staff support for promotion, event planning and implementation. Staff helped with placement of street banner.
• HUB for Sustainable Transportation: People Power helped host Rail Trail Day, provided volunteer support and promoted Bike Week. PEDX was hired to coordinate the food pick-up and delivery by bicycle to our free breakfast sites.
• Friends of the Rail Trail (FORT): Helped organize Rail and Trail Day.
• Santa Cruz County Cycling Club: Provided volunteers and promoted Bike Week.
• Santa Cruz Bicycle Industry Coalition: Provides on-going promotions of Bike Week and helps with the Bike Industry tours.
• Seaside Company: Continues to host a company Bike to Work breakfast site.
• University of California Santa Cruz: TAPS provided funding and staff support for promotion and provided an unlimited number of free bike safety DVD. The UCSC Bike Coop assisted in setting up and staffing a BTW breakfast site. The UCSC Woman's Center hosted a successful first-time breakfast site on lower campus. The UCSC Cycling Team provided volunteer support.
• Cabrillo College: Provided funding, staff support for internal promotion, and assisted in setting up BTW breakfast sites.