05-26-10 South Bend tops Indiana cities in bicycle commuting

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Office of the Mayor NEWS RELEASE May 26, 2010 5 A.M. South Bend tops Indiana cities in bicycle commuting Contact: Mikki Dobski, Director of Communications & Special Projects, 235-5855 or 876-1564 or Chris Dressel, Bicycle Coordinator, 235-9371 In a Bike to Work Week ceremony today to formally open the city’s first downtown bicycle lanes, Mayor Stephen J. Luecke announced that South Bend became Indiana’s leading city for commuting by bicycle, according to 2008 U.S. Census statistics. th South Bend also ranks 6 in the Midwest behind mostly college towns – Minneapolis, th Madison, Wis., Ann Arbor, Mich., Champaign, Ill., and Iowa City, Iowa – and 36 among the 453 largest U.S. cities. Members of the South Bend area bicycling community greeted the achievement by riding new downtown bicycle lanes along much of Colfax Avenue during the morning rush hour. The news conference was part of an organic blueberry pancake breakfast hosted by the LaSalle Grill on the 100 block of West Colfax for Michiana Bike to Work Week. In addition, members of the Bike Michiana Coalition presented the mayor with a $2,500 check to underwrite the cost of painting bike lanes along Colfax, one of the first bike-lane priorities identified by bicycle commuting advocates. According to the Census Bureau’s 2008 American Community Survey, an estimated 2.29 percent of South Bend commuters traveled to work by bicycle in 2008 – a percentage that exceeds national averages, including for cities designated as “Bicycle Friendly Communities.” The 993 South Bend residents who used a bicycle to get to work surpassed every other Hoosier city except Indianapolis, whose 1,125 cyclists represented only 0.30 percent of the capital city’s workforce. Bloomington’s 1.84 percent was the state’s second highest. -more- Pg. 2.