Annual D.C. area Bike to Work Day planned for May 17

The D.C. area’s 2019 Bike to Work Day is just a month away. On May 17, thousands of riders are anticipated to pedal to work as part of the free, annual event—now in its nineteenth year.

Launched in 2001, the regional Bike to Work Day features food, prizes, bike tune-ups, and dozens of pit stops. This year’s event is scheduled to happen during National Bike to Work Week and has a goal of netting 19,000 registrants, according to its organizers. The event is set to occur rain or shine and 115 pit stops across D.C., Maryland, and Virginia are planned.

As an agenda item from the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments’s (MWCOG) March 20 meeting put it, Bike to Work Day is designed “to increase public awareness of the viability of bicycle commuting in the Washington region [and to] encourage the business community and other regional decision-makers to support increased bicycle commuting through bicycle-friendly policies and initiatives.” Registration is open and the first 20,000 registrants who end up participating in the event will get a free t-shirt, the organizers note.

“New for 2019, Commuter Connections [one of the organizing groups] is promoting its Bicycle Route Finder, which makes it easy to plan a cycling commute or recreational ride using a database of more than 2,150 miles of trails, on-street lanes, paths, and facilities,” MWCOG said in a recent release. The Washington Area Bicyclist Association is the other main organizing group for the event, which will also include biking convoys that morning.

Registration for Bike to Work Day declined last year, after peaking in 2017 with more than 18,000 registrants, according to data presented to MWCOG. A 2016 survey of registrants found that the greatest share of registrants (42 percent) lived in Virginia, followed by D.C. (32 percent), and lastly Maryland (26 percent). More than half (52 percent) worked in D.C.

The largest share of registrants reported working for the federal government (35 percent), followed by the private sector (32 percent), and nonprofit organizations (21 percent). Ten percent of registrants worked for a state or local agency and 2 percent were self-employed.

Via Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments

Via Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments

Via Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments