The Taiwan Bicycle Exporters Association (TBEA) has committed US$50,000 per year for three years to the Bikes Belong Foundation.
The investment will go toward Bikes Belong’s Bicycling Design Best Practices Project, which works to increase bicycle use in the US – by adapting and implementing state-of-the art international best practices in infrastructure and urban design to make bicycling safer, more comfortable and more appealing. The SRAM Cycling Fund has matched this US$50,000 contribution for 2010.
"The TBEA believes in the vision of a more bicycle friendly world, and we are inspired by the work of the Bikes Belong Foundation and their Best Practices Project," said Ying-Ming Yang, Chairman of TBEA.
"It is logical for communities that want to provide safe and accessible bike facilities to benchmark cities such as Amsterdam and Utrecht in the Netherlands as well as Muenster, Germany. These communities have achieved great success in getting people to utilise bicycles for transportation, and that leads to healthier, less congested city centres."
In countries such as the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark, the percentage of daily trips taken by bicycle is 20 to 30 times greater than in the United States. The use of bicycles is an everyday, mainstream transportation choice for men and women of all ages. While global in scope, the Best Practices Project focuses on exporting and ‘translating’ the cycling experience from these countries to the American context.
There are two key tactics to the Best Practices Project: 1) Organising and leading study tours and workshops that bring key US transportation professionals and policymakers together to examine, experience, and be inspired by the most advanced bicycling environments in Europe and North America; and 2) improving US design manuals and professional guidance by cataloguing and publicising the best innovative bike facility designs that are already making bicycling better in some big US cities.
"With the help of the TBEA and the additional support from the SRAM Cycling Foundation, we will be able to show many more individuals, legislators, engineers, and business developers the role that bicycling can and will play in our future through the Best Practices Project," said Tim Blumenthal, President of Bikes Belong.
"We’re honoured to have the support of the TBEA. It is another example of how the industry is coming together to get more people on bikes more often. "
