Berkeley Bikes to Work

They came in blue jeans and suits, with bulging backpacks and stylish pocket books, some with kids in tow – literally. May 12 was the 17th annual Bike to Work Day in Berkeley and in all of the nine-county Bay Area.

And by all accounts the day set aside to promote bicycles as a healthy, environmentally-friendly means of transportation was a phenomenal success. “It was a great day for biking and there were lots of people out enjoying their bike commutes,” said Renee Rivera, executive director of the and member of the Bicycle Friendly Berkeley Coalition.

There were crowds at the half-dozen “energizer stations” Bicycle Friendly Berkeley and its partners had set up around town with coffee and treats and information about bicycling. Riding a bike to work is an everyday thing for many Ashby BART Station Patrons. In fact, 12 percent of the people who take BART from Ashby come to the station by bicycle, Rivera said.

Hudson Soules, a landscaper, was grabbing a cup of coffee at the Ashby energizer station before jumping on the train to San Francisco with his bike. “I love the simplicity of biking to work,” he said.

For those who leave their bikes behind, the Ashby BART’s got the advantage of having new BikeLink parking. Bicyclists purchase a $20 card, swipe it and enter a secure room where they lock up their bikes. Parking costs vary from three to five cents per hour and is available 24 hours, every day of the week.

The day wasn’t only for adults on their way to jobs. A throng of kids from in West Berkeley stopped by the Ashby Energizer Station to grab a cup of Tang, before continuing to pick up classmates on their way to school in West Berkeley. “It’s a good way to get to school,” said teacher Megan Wood, noting that some of the kids ride to school every day.

Over at the downtown on Shattuck Avenue near Allston Way, folks on their way to the downtown BART, to jobs in downtown Berkeley and to deposited their bicycles with Tom Grice, who mounted a ladder to hoist the two-wheelers up onto large bicycle-size shelves. Before heading out, some bicyclists started their morning with the pancakes volunteer Kristen Gentilucci was serving. Bike parking is free at the Bike Station which has been operating for about a year and serves, on the average, 100 to 110 bicyclists each day. Hours are 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. For those who want 24-hour secure parking, BikeLink has a facility adjacent to the Bike Station.

Down at the North Berkeley BART station, had set up an energizer station, complete with a technician who was inflating bike tires and making minor adjustments to bike frames. Kiran Delbanco, 4, was on his way to preschool and his dad was doing his daily nine-mile bike commute to his job at SunPower in Richmond. SunPower is among the employers who sponsored a competition among employee teams to encourage biking to work.

While Bike to Work Day is one of the most important activities promoted by Bicycle Friendly Berkeley and the East Bay Bicycle Coalition, the groups work year round lobbying for better bicycle amenities, such as improved bike boulevards. They tout Berkeley’s newest bike boulevard on Ninth Street near the new that connects Berkeley to Emeryville. And they’re working on a plan to build a westward extension to the Ohlone Way bike path that now runs adjacent to Hearst Avenue and goes to the North Berkeley BART Station.

“Some 15,000 people use bicycles for transportation in Berkeley, making about 100,000 trips each week that might otherwise be made by car,” says the Bicycle Friendly Berkeley website.

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