Are you ready for the 2 Mile Challenge?

High gas prices are hitting American families in their wallets and pockets pretty hard these days.  But did you know that more than 40 percent of urban trips in the United States are less than two miles, yet 90 percent of those short trip are taken by car? 

Many of these trips could easily be taken by public transit, on foot or by bicycle--saving money, helping the environment, and even affording the chance to stay fit all at the same time.  At the Department of Transportation, we know these are the kinds of alternatives people are looking for, and we're working to provide transportation options that don't require getting into the car.

That’s why I was pleased to hear about a new competition called the 2 Mile Challenge that demonstrates how many car trips could be replaced by bikes.

The challenge is pretty simple.  Organizers have selected three non-profit team sponsors.  Each team recruits members, who log their miles traveled by bicycle from May to October.  Anyone can register online and join a team--and you don't even have to go to any meetings!

The gold team pedals for the Alliance for Biking and Walking, the blue team pedals for 350.org, and the red team pedals for the Safe Routes to School National Partnership. 

Challenge organizers aim to replace 100,000 car trips, and sponsor Clif Bars will donate a total of $100,000 to bicycle advocacy and climate protection.  The team with the most miles and points wins the largest grant for their particular organization.

The challenge builds a community, encourages more citizens to get out and bike, and supports nonprofits that are working to increase active transportation.   But the best thing about the challenge is that every mile counts.  If you only ride your bike five times a year, go ahead and sign up--those five trips will help your team.  Even if you only ride once, that trip counts.

Make a commitment to saving money, getting exercise and helping the environment by riding your bike on short trips today – sign up here to be a part of the 2 Mile Challenge.

Comments

[m]

As an avid cyclist, I love to see initiatives like this. But it does disappoint me to see cost used as motivation. The fact is, it's not always cheaper to ride a bicycle than it is to drive a car. Of course it will vary from person to person primarily on what kind of car you're driving, what kinds of trips you're taking, and what kind of food you eat. At least in my situation, the operating costs of my bicycle are higher than the operating costs for my car. Fuel for the bicycle is just so darn expensive. If I ate nothing but rice and canola oil it might be a different story, but that's not a realistic diet for me.

Despite the higher cost of riding my bike, I would love to make purposeful trips on it. But I have found that impractical as well. The problem there is that bicycles are just so easy to steal. Even if you lock them up, nicer bikes are made to be very easily disassembled and adjusted. I've ridden my bike to the grocery store a few times, and I always find that I'm too paranoid about coming back out to a missing front wheel and seat post. It's much less stressful to just drive or walk. I can go for a nice, relaxing bike ride when I get back home.

[Juniper Innovations]

Cycling is a great idea and so is public transport in theory. Will basic obstacles be overcome however such as:

1. Getting all families and all family members to own and ride a bike?
2. Making public transport convenient, reliable, safe and low cost?
3. Having public transport cater for the masses i.e. over demand on some routes?

[Uli]

I gave up my car a year ago and since I use my legs and public transport to go around in town. Well, it is a daily challenge till today, but I am still alive against all worries I had when I made the decision to do so

[Klark Jessen, MassDOT Secretary Jeffrey Mullan's Office]

My employees are big fans of your FastLane daily blogs and consider our ‘Bay State Bike Week’ as a best practice for all State DOTs to advance bicycle transportation.

MassDOT innovated the concept of a bike week by creating a statewide, weeklong celebration in partnership with MassBike, our State bicycle advocacy group.

Leading a Statewide bike week makes sense for all DOTs to educate and to raise customer awareness of bicycling, as healthy, green and fun! During this week we are also able to communicate the 'Same Rules Same Roads' initiative to help all our customers better understand how to use our 'Complete Streets.'

Please note we are celebrating Bay State Bike Week in Massachusetts from May 14 – 20th and welcome everyone to ride with us! Here is the link to our recent blog http://transportation.blog.state.ma.us/blog/2011/05/celebrate-bay-state-bike-week-may-14-20.html and the baystatebikeweek.org .

Thanks,

Jeffrey Mullan, Massachusetts Secretary of Transportation

[Fredericktonian]

It's a great challenge, and it would be great if there were more opportunities to bike and walk within our communities. I live in a semi-rural area near Frederick, MD. Just like a thousand other towns in America. Within 2 miles from my house there are schools, parks, stores, soccer fields etc, that the kids and I would LOVE to be able to bike and walk to rather than drive to. Ideally these facilities would be shared by commuters and for excercise.

However, where I live and in most of the communities that I visit, there is no infrastructure to support this critical want and need. There are no trails that bypass speeding cars. There are no sidewalks. There are no bike lanes. And it doesn't feel like there will be any coming anytime soon.

In fact they are in the process of re-routing many major local thoroughfares in our community, but there is no plan to add any transportation facilities for people that would want to be able to reduce car trips.

[Takefree]

MassDOT innovated the concept of a bike week by creating a statewide, weeklong celebration in partnership with MassBike, our State bicycle advocacy group.

[Ab workout]

This is a great idea!:) People nowadays prefer riding a car in order to get to a certain place even if it is not that far. With this concept, we would be able to promote a healthy life style and at the same time prevent global warming from worsening. I'm looking forward to the day.

[Hostel Buenos Aires]

Well, that will be an exciting event and I'm sure many bikers all over Us will join the competition. I'll be more excited to watch the competition.

[AnneMichelsen]

@m Simple solution to the bike theft paranoia issue: Get a beater bike and use it exclusively for short commutes. If riding such a beast offends your sensibility (I know, I'm an avid cyclist, too), don't even think of it as a bicycle. It's your "short commute zero emission vehicle."

As for the calorie issue, I just factor my commutes into my workout time and figure I'd be working out anyway. Plus I'm probably saving a mint on future medical costs by staying in shape!