[Updated] Bike Commute Challenge sets records: 2,693 newbies and one extreme commuter

Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor)

15 years ago

The women of Gladrags were
one of five small businesses with 2-4
employees who commuted by
bike every day of the month.
(Photos © J. Maus)

The BTA announced results of their 15th annual Bike Commute Challenge tonight. The event, which pitted workplaces against each other in a friendly competition to see how took more bike trips in the month of September, had the highest participation rates in its history.

Here are the numbers:

1,240 workplaces, including businesses, nonprofits, and public agencies participated in the Challenge
a record 11,118 people logged bike commutes,
collectively riders logged 1,244,718 miles,
2,693 of these riders signed up as new bike commuters this year.

The BTA did not skimp on bike
parking for this event.

Those are some very impressive statistics… but how did individual businesses stack up? Here is the full list of winners from each category:

Businesses and non-profits:

Businesses and nonprofit organizations with 2-4 employees reporting 100% commute rates:

The crew from Stumptown Printers.

Businesses and nonprofits with 5-24 employees reporting 100% commute rates:

Businesses and non-profits with 25-99 employees:

Community Cycling Center with a 90.4% commute rate (that’s up from 78% last year)

Businesses and non-profits with more than 100-499 employees

First Alternative Co-op of Corvallis with a 37.1% commute rate

Businesses and non-profits with more than 500 employees

NCNM with a 10.1% commute rate

Public Agencies

Public agencies with less than 25 employees:

OHSU Pediatric Pulmonary Division with a 96.4% commute rate

Public agencies with 25-99 employees:

PSU Campus Recreation Department with a 51.1% commute rate

The Bureau of Planning and
Sustainability is in a class
of their own.

Public agencies with 100-499 employees:

Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability with a 51.5 % commute rate.

Public agencies with more than 500 employees:

Oregon Department of Environmental Quality with a 10.2% commute rate

One-person businesses or non-profits:
Reporting a 100% commute rate:

Bike shops:
Bike Shops with fewer than 8 employees

South Salem Cycleworks with a 84.8% commute rate

Bike shops with 9-15 employees

Bike n Hike- Portland with a 46.8% commute rate

Bike shops with 16 or more employees

Bike Gallery- Downtown with a 99.2% commute rate

ODOT’s Chris Bell (shown with
BTA Exec. Dir. Scott Bricker)
won the Brian Reynolds
Distance Award.

Brian Reynolds Distance Award:
To the commuter with the highest mileage:

Chris Bell with 1,828 miles in 21 days of commuting*

Chris Bell, Super-Commuter
I tracked Bell down after he accepted his award and learned more about his amazing feat. Bell, who lives near Mt. Tabor in Southeast Portland, said he would leave home at 4:50 in the morning and that the journey takes him three hours (at an average of 18 miles per hour). The total round trip is about 130 miles (that’s about 500 miles a week!). He’s thankful that his employer, ODOT, has showers and lockers (he sweats a lot) and his co-workers think he’s a bit crazy.

1,828 miles in 21 days of commuting. Now that’s commitment.

The “Wonder Twins” Reign Supreme
For years, staffers from the City of Portland’s Office of Sustainable Development and the Bureau of Planning would finish 1-2 in their category (Public Agencies 100-499 employees). So now that the two bureaus have merged into the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability, its become something of a super-team.

Out of 104 total employees, 76 of them rode to work in September, taking a total of 985 trips by bike for a 51.5% of total days biked. The next closest competitor in this category, the City’s Bureau of Environmental Services, tallied a percentage of days biked of just 22.9%

I caught two members of the winning team, James Valdez and Kevin Veaudry Casaus, near the results. “We win every year, so now we’re just seeing by how much.”

PSU Campus Rec upsets the Mayor’s Office
Members of Team Mayor Sam Adams were stinging at getting second to the PSU Campus Recreation team in the 25-99 employees category. The two teams were evenly matched with 26 employees logging 210 and 220 total trips by bike respectively, but the PSU team ended up with 51.1% of days biked vs. Team Sam Adams’ 42.7%.

Adams’ Transportation Policy Advisor (and former BTA chief) Catherine Ciarlo’s tweet summed up the mood. She wrote, “Trying not to be bitter about our team coming in second behind PSU Rec Dept in the Bike Commute Challenge.”

Bureau of Transportation only 12th Place?!
Perusing the full results, I was amazed to see that the City of Portland Bureau of Transportation was only 12th in their category (100-499 employees). Just 39 employees (out of 330 total) registered their miles and PBOT had a percentage of days bike of only 8.5%. I expected a higher result from them.

Come on PBOT, do it better!

The True Spirit of the Bike Commute Challenge
To me, the most inspiring thing about the BCC is how it motivates and inspires the companies and organizations where biking isn’t already part of the fabric but who are making strides one employee at a time.

As I hung around the result sheets, shrieks of excitement made me turn to three people looking way down the list. They were employees of the Native American Youth and Family Center. They had placed 120th, but said “That’s still awesome!” The employee (whose name I regret not taking down), was thrilled to take part in the BCC and said it was an inspiring event for her and her office-mates. 15 out of 83 employees took part in the challenge, logging 158 trips, for a percentage of days bike of 9.5%. That result is “pretty rad” she said.

Bravo to all the folks who gave biking a try for the first time last month (and to those who biked more than usual). I think next year you shouldn’t have to wait in line for beer.

Now, let’s keep the wheels turning and make every month a Bike Commute Challenge!