"An innovative Florida program used tactical urbanism to super-charge the local school bike bus - and transform it into a powerful tool to increase support for permanent infrastructure, which other cities can steal. University of Miami-based nonprofit BikeSafe found that adding a pop-up bike lane to a long-standing local bike bus at the Coconut Grove neighborhood elementary school actually decreased the number of cars in the school drop-off line by an average of nearly 30 percent over the course of three "Bike to School Day" events between 2023 and 2024."
"Perhaps most impressively, nearly 77 percent of parents surveyed after the bike bus said they would support the pop-up lane being made permanent - an astounding show of support that ride co-organizer Kurt Kaminer said was "almost at the point of being a miracle" in a largely car-dependent city. "We realized when we did our first survey with the PTA that it was starting to overcome what we all know as bikelash ... That was huge," added Kaminer, whose case study (with researcher Dr. Mickey Witte) was recently published in the Journal of the American Planning Association. "That's when we realized that the element of tactical urbanism with the bike bus could be a way of winning hearts and minds.""
University of Miami–based nonprofit BikeSafe implemented tactical urbanism by adding a pop-up bike lane to a long-standing neighborhood school bike bus in Coconut Grove. Over three Bike to School Day events between 2023 and 2024, car volume in the school drop-off line decreased by an average of nearly 30 percent while bicycle traffic doubled as families and nearby private school students joined. Post-event surveys found nearly 77 percent of parents would support making the pop-up lane permanent. The approach converted initial bikelash into broad parental support and demonstrates a replicable strategy for building backing for permanent cycling infrastructure.
Read at Streetsblog
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