Would you ride more if…

You could take a class to increase bike skills and confidence
You could ride with friends and family
Your doctor said you probably should
The roads were more safe
Your employer offered you incentives

This is a question SVBC asked in a comprehensive public opinion poll in 2020. The top vote getter by a whole lot was #4. No surprise – people want safe roads.

We were surprised however to find that #1 ranked the lowest. But, and it’s a big but, when we sliced and diced the data by demographics, there were big differences in who feels they would benefit from taking a bike education class:

There’s a 20% difference between white people and people of Latino/Latina/Latinx ancestry with white folks not feeling strongly about the impact of classes.
Women of Asian ancestry are 28% more likely than white men to want a bike education class.
And it appears that younger people, ages 18-35 are more inclined to want classes as well as people who live within two miles of their work.
One last thing that surprised us was the people who already ride bikes on a weekly basis want classes too.

So, while on the whole, classes did not rank high, there’s a different story when disaggregating the data by demographics.

With this as a backdrop, SVBC is elated to announce that with 2016 Measure B funding from Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA), for the next two years, Santa Clara County will now have an adult education program geared towards women, low income people, and individuals from BIPOC communities.

Here’s the backstory.

Many of you likely remember Measure B in 2016. For those of you who don’t, it is a 30-year, half-cent countywide sales tax to enhance transit, highways, expressways, and active transportation projects (bicycles, pedestrians and complete streets). The measure passed by nearly 72%, the highest level of support for any Santa Clara County transportation tax.

When the deal was being brokered, SVBC pushed for a portion of the sales tax to be set aside for bike and pedestrian programs.

Success! $250 million was allocated. The vast majority of the money was reserved for infrastructure projects like bike lanes and pedestrian/bike bridges, the street improvements that make the roads more safe for bicyclists (#4 above). But, in recognition of the fact that fancy bike lanes don’t in and of themselves get new people to ride, money was also set aside to encourage behavior change. This includes things like open streets programs, classes, safe routes to schools programs, and other fun ways of getting folks comfortable riding a bike for everyday use.

2016 Measure B passed and now the money for programmatic work is finally getting out into the community. Every city and town in Santa Clara County receives a portion of 2016 Measure B education and encouragement funding including VTA and the County of Santa Clara. VTA decided to use a portion of their 2016 Measure B allocation to fund a comprehensive bicycle education program over a multi-year period. And, this decision was made after they successfully piloted a similar program a few years earlier.

What that means is that for at least the next two years, there will be regular classes for people to become much more adept, comfortable, and skilled at riding a bike and doing so safely.

SVBC was selected by VTA to run the adult education program and we’re thrilled that there will be a regular schedule of bike classes for different skills, rider types, languages, and more. We are also looking forward to working with San Jose Bike Clinic and Community Cycles of California to help deliver bike maintenance workshops as a part of the program.

We’re in the planning phase right now. In the meantime, do you know someone who might want to take a bike skills class? Make a list of those folks, let them know, and get them ready with what they’ll need to enroll in a bike skills class. And, if you are ready and want to be the first to know when classes come on line, sign up on the waiting list here.

The classes are all free and will include:

Biking Basics: One-hour online or classroom biking workshop for people who want a quick review of how to bicycle safely.
Smart Cycling Part 1 – Classroom: Comprehensive four-hour classroom workshop to prepare you to bicycle safely on any road or bike facility – for people who want to get into the details and learn how to choose a bike, ride safely, do safety checks, commute, and much more. May be done online or in person. Prerequisites: none.
Smart Cycling Part 2 – On-bike: In person workshop where you practice biking in parking lots and on streets in small groups with certified bicycling instructors. For people who want hands-on experience practicing skills they learned in the classroom as well as emergency bike handling skills. Prerequisites: Smart Cycling Part 1 – Classroom, your own bicycle, ability to ride a bicycle with one hand on the handlebars.
Basic Bike Maintenance: Simple bicycle maintenance workshop for people who want to learn how to change a tire, fix a flat, and perform other basic maintenance/safety checks.

See you in bike class!