New Initiative Encourages Residents to 'Bike Everywhere'

The “Bike Everywhere Challenge” is a new initiative that offers residents incentives to use their bicycle for local trips. This collaboration between the City of Tacoma, Pierce County, and Pierce Transit is the first 24-hour, seven-day-a-week Bike Month event. The Initiative includes all non-recreational bicycle trips taken in May, can be counted toward a person’s total for the month. When residents take five or more trips by bicycle and log them on the Pierce Trips website they will be entered into a drawing to win gift cards to local businesses. 

“In years past the City has promoted the Commuter Challenge, which focused on encouraging employees to bike to work,”said City of Tacoma Active Transportation Coordinator Diane Wiatr. “This year the City is also encouraging residents to try bicycling for local trips to the farmers market and the grocery store, to school and to the library.” 

With the potential community and environmental benefits of biking and with summer just around the corner, this may be just the right time for Tacoma residents to try the Bike Everywhere Challenge.

May is Bike Month and Puget Sound Starts Here Month, and the coincidence reveals a common focus: reducing water pollution. “Most of the toxic chemicals in Puget Sound come from polluted runoff flowing off of roads, parking lots, driveways, and other hard surfaces every time it rains,” said Shauna Hansen, a City of Tacoma stormwater engineer and Puget Sound Starts Here representative. “We’re excited to support Bike Month because bicycles are a pollution-free form of transportation.”

To learn about the City of Tacoma’s Bike Month programming, visit BIKE253.com or follow Tacoma Mobility at facebook.com/tacomamobility. 

For more information on Puget Sound Starts Here Month, visit pugetsoundstartshere.org.