External resources
Blogs, websites, podcasts, and videos covering all things cyclist well-being.
Philly area organizations and websites
Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia
Philadelphia's oldest bicycle advocacy organization. They offer lots of connections, tools, resources, and an event calendar.
A collection of Philly-area non-profit charities, private foundations, and government agencies dedicated to building and improving the regional trail network.
5th Square is Philly's urbanist political action committee. They advocate for better transportation, land use, and public spaces.
Megan Shannon's Government Transparency Blog
Great blog that peers inside the inner workings of the Philadelphia city government. A lot of great articles on bike lanes and budgetary matters.
Philly. Biking. Culture. The most comprehensive calendar of all things cycling in the Philadelphia area. Also a great blog on the latest happenings.
Feet First Philly is a volunteer group sponsored by Clean Air Council that advocates to improve the pedestrian environment, protect the rights of pedestrians, and encourage walking as a mode of transportation and for exercise and recreation.
Hit by a car? Call Stuart Leon. With over 30+ years of courtroom experience, they are the sole advocates dedicated exclusively to helping victims of serious bicycle crashes and promoting safer streets.
Advocacy tools and datasets
Bike Advocacy Toolkit (League of American Bicyclists)
A detailed guide on grassroots organizing and mobilizing that can help you empower your community to make safety a priority for your neighborhood. An essential read to help you get started, improve your strategic planning, and achieve your advocacy goals.
High-Injury Network (Vision Zero PHL)
The HIN is the 12% of Philly streets whose design causes 80% of reported crashes. This map identifies the most dangerous corridors. The list changes slightly every year as new crashes occur. HIN data excludes unreported crashes and near misses.
Philly Complete Streets (OTIS)
The City of Philadelphia's "Complete Streets" program aims to redesign streets to support truly multi-modal transportation, including more equitable access for bicycles. This webpage lists ongoing and planned Complete Streets projects.
PennDOT District 6 Projects (PennDOT)
A list of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation's infrastructure projects in Philly. ("District 6" refers to the greater Philly area, not City Council District 6.) This inventory includes bike projects on state-owned roads in Philly.
Permanent Bicycle and Pedestrian Counters (DVRPC)
Bike ridership data in a few locations throughout Philly, collected by the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission for urban planning research.
Bikeshare Trip Data (Indego)
Ridership figures for Indego, Philly's bikeshare program. Also see Indego's Station Map, which shows the increasing extent of the network.
DVRPC Link (DVRPC)
An interactive map showing the bicycle Level of Traffic Stress (LTN) of every street in the region. Use this to study how safe bike lanes can better connect communities.
Circuit Trails Gap Analysis (Pennsylvania Environmental Council)
Reports and interactive maps explaining the methodology of defining long-term project prioritization for regional bike and pedestrian trails (the Circuit Trails), including many in Philadelphia.
Low-Traffic Neighborhood Planning Tool (Walk Wheel Cycle Trust)
An open-source sandbox tool to create Low-Traffic Neighborhoods (LTNs) and evaluate traffic impacts on any street in the world. Simply draw a neighborhood boundary, and you have a sandbox to experiment with modal filters, direction changes, turn restrictions, and road classifications.
Sidewalk Gap Analysis Explorer (DVRPC)
An interactive map showing where sidewalks are missing in the region, limiting access to communities and putting vulnerable road users (people outside a vehicle) at risk.
Literature
Comeback Guide to Anti-Cycling Arguments
This magazine article features a list of rebuttals to the most common anti-bike arguments. It explains things like why bike lanes are good for business and how people riding bikes helps pay for roads.
Killed by a Traffic Engineer by Wes Marshall
This book pulls back the curtain on unsafe streets, revealing why engineers designed them this way and how little science was used in the process. Wes Marshall, a civil engineering professor, thoroughly examines why our streets are unsafe, including how traffic engineers historically prioritize speed and capacity over safety, how blame is placed on road users, and systemic reliance on faulty data.
How Cycling Can Save the World by Peter Walker
This book explores how the bicycle can help solve many of the problems caused by the use of automobiles, including reducing pollution and obesity, reducing injuries and deaths from crashes, improving mental health and quality of life, and connecting people within communities. Peter Walker, a reporter and bike blogger, demonstrates the proven positive benefits to cities throughout the world where everyday cycling is a reality. Interviews with public figures provide case studies from various cities on how this change can be brought about.
YouTube channels
Get started
Strong Towns explores how car-centric development is too expensive in terms of finances and lost lives. Their website is an excellent resource for those focused on building safe and financially resilient communities and provides resources to do actual, real-world advocacy.
An excellent, toned-down urbanist channel to share with your neighbors. They make informative videos on urban transportation by foot, bicycle, and public transportation. They also debunk many myths and stereotypes about bicycling using well-researched data.
Go deep
A bike-focused channel by Tom Babin dedicated to principles of safe and pleasant cycling infrastructure, guides and tips for cyclists, and busting misconceptions about bikes.
If dry urbanist humor is your thing, Ray Delahanty's "CityNerd" is the channel you seek. As a professional transportation planner, his analytic insight is key in understanding urban infrastructure. He also has a penchant for using satellite images and lists to communicate his points.
Get mad
Jason's early videos inspired a generation of amateur urbanists by showing side-by-side comparisons of European vs. North American city planning.
Philly’s resident urbanist, Alan is a train enthusiast who also has many excellent videos on bicycles, parking, and public transit in North America.
Podcasts
This Los Angeles-based podcast is a weekly radio talk show dedicated to the idea that we need to prioritize transportation by bikes. Bike Talk covers news relevant to bike advocacy with interviews from across the United States and around the world.
This New York City based podcast explores how car dependency contributes to a worse quality of life in America. Given the tongue-in-cheek name, the War on Cars is not inherently anti-car, but instead makes the excellent case that automobile alternatives are essential for happy and prosperous communities.
De Fiets is Niets is an excellent podcast by 99% Invisible that explores the social and economic factors that led to the success of the Dutch bicycle revolution in the 1970s. This movement was instrumental in the Netherlands becoming one of the most bicycle-friendly nations in the world. It provides a great framework for how modern bicycle movements in other countries can replicate their success.
