National Bike to Work day is Friday, May 18, and tens of thousands of Missourians will be riding again this year.
“Bicycling to work is on a huge upward swing in Missouri,” said Brent Hugh, executive director of the Missouri Bicycle and Pedestrian Federation. “From 2000 to 2010, the amount of bicycling to work increased by 70 percent. In our large metro areas, the story is even more dramatic – biking to work almost tripled in both Kansas City and St. Louis over the past decade.”
The increases in bicycling to work put Missouri well ahead of the national trends. Overall in the U.S., bicycling to work increased by 40 percent from 2000 to 2010.
In 2010, Senator Will Kraus sponsored a bill adding Missouri Bike Month (May), Bike to Work Week and Bike to Work Day to the Missouri state holidays calendar. The bill was signed by Governor Nixon and went into effect in August 2011, making this the first year the even is officially recognized in Missouri’s holiday calendar.
Information about events happening around Missouri can be found on the MoBikeFed website: www.mobikefed.org.