Advancing active mobility in greater Prince William, Virginia

Tag: bicycle commuting

Celebrate Bike to Work Day on Friday, May 20

Registration is now open for Metropolitan Washington’s Bike to Work Day 2022 on Friday, May, 20.

This FREE event features roughly 100 pit stops in DC, MD, and VA, each with FREE giveaways, food, and beverages, while supplies last.

The first 15,000 who register for the event online and arrive at a pit stop by bike will also receive a FREE event T-shirt.

This year’s event features pit stops at the following eight locations in greater Prince William:

Chinn Aquatic & Fitness Center (morning & afternoon)

Town of Dumfries, Simpson Community Center

George Mason University, Manassas campus, outside Freedom Aquatic & Fitness Center

Kelly Leadership Center, Independent Hill

City of Manassas – VRE Station

City of Manassas Park – VRE Station

Rippon Landing VRE Station

Woodbridge – VRE Station

Start Friday, May 20 with a healthy bike ride, and join the fun.  Celebrate and promote clean, healthy, affordable, and joyful transportation; meet fellow bike commuters, enthusiasts, and supportive officials; collect bike-to-work-day swag; and enjoy free breakfast snacks and beverages.  Some pit stops will also have free bicycle inspections and adjustments.  Register online now!

Local Media Coverage:

Register Now for Bike-to-Work Day on Friday, May 21, 2021

 

Bike-to-Work Day (BTWD) Metro DC is traditionally held on the third Friday in May.  For the past 20 years, the event has been organized and promoted annually throughout the metropolitan Washington DC region by the Washington Area Bicyclist Association and the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments’ (MWCOG) Commuter Connections program.

The event celebrates bicycling as a viable commuting  mode and encourages all commuters to try bicycling for all–or for just one segment–of their work commute trip .  Teleworkers are also welcome to participate, by bicycling to one of the roughly 90 BTWD rally locations (known as ‘pit stops’) throughout the Washington region and then bicycling home for their workday.

As most people know, bicycling is healthy, clean, economical, and fun.  Bicycle commuting is energy efficient, reduces traffic and parking congestion,  improves air quality, increases employee morale and productivity, and can lower employer healthcare costs.

Register for Bike-to-Work Day now, so you don’t miss out on the fun (and BTWD swag).

Bike to Work Day was canceled in 2020 due to COVID-19 concerns, but it ‘s back this year, with some COVID precautions in place at each BTWD pit stop.

This year,  seven Bike-to-Work Day pit stops will be held throughout the Prince William area.  At these locations, participants can pick up a BTWD t-shirt, water bottle, and snacks.  Participants should register online in advance and  show up at their selected pit stop at their scheduled check-in time with a mask on and maintain social distancing.

Click on the links below to learn the exact locations, hours of operation, and contacts for the seven Prince William area pit stops.

Bike-to-Work Day proclamations have been issued this year by the National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board, by the Prince William Board of County Supervisors, and by the Manassas City Council.

In the United States, the League of American Bicyclists established National Bike Week (now National Bike Month) in 1956, emulating an event begun in the United Kingdom in 1923.  The Washington Area Bicyclist Association organized DC-based Bike-to-Work Day events on Earth Day (April 22) for several decades until MWCOG’s Commuter Connections program adopted BTWD Metro DC as a region-wide event.

Active Prince William’s Bicycle Parking Campaign Highlighted by What ‘s Up Woodbridge News Site.

Improving the availability of bicycle parking in Prince William and Greater Manassas Area is a stated goal of Active Prince William. Recently we have been working with Prince William County and VDOT officials and staff to encourage installation of bicycle racks at transit stations. Just recently new bike racks were installed at the Woodbridge VRE station both outside (see photo below), and inside the parking garage so bikes can be stored out of the elements.

New bike rack installed at Woodbridge VRE Station

New bike rack recently installed at Woodbridge VRE Station.

County Bicycle Parking Guidelines. Fairfax County recently adopted Bicycle Parking Guidelines, and we hope to see Prince William follow suit. We have been engaged with the County via the Trails and Blueways Council (TBC) and PW DOT to officially establish bicycle rack installation guidelines in the County’s construction manual.  This will help ensure that any new bicycle racks that are installed by the County, developers, or businesses, follow best practices.

CcasSUTWAAAqiKq

Map of Route from Old Town Manassas Bike Rack Inventory Ride.

Mapping Existing Bike Racks. In order to better understand and address bicycle parking availability in the area, Active Prince William is actively mapping all the existing bicycle racks that we can find in Prince William County and Greater Manassas.  We are using a website developed by Bike Arlington, called Rackspotter to map bicycle parking and enable users to find the locations of bike parking when they need it. So far, we have mapped 82 bike racks and lockers across the area. In an effort to find and map every available bike rack in the Old Town Manassas vicinity, we conducted a bike rack inventory by bicycling over 9 miles through the area searching for racks (see map of our route).

Here is the article by What’s Up Woodbridge about Active Prince William and our Bicycle Parking Campaign:

Where are all the bike racks in Prince William?