How to advocate

Learn about and connect with decision-makers.

Who represents you?

Most new bicycle infrastructure requires an ordinance from City Council, which is then signed by the Mayor. City Council is divided into 10 geographical districts. By convention, district Councilmembers have prerogative over ordinances in their districts.

District Councilmembers regularly defer to Registered Community Organizations (RCOs) when deciding whether to back an infrastructure project like a bike lane.

• Neighborhood RCOs: local associations that are supposed to represent the interest of residents (you!). You can join your local RCO to get involved with your community and support safe streets. Most RCOs hold elections that you can vote in as a member. RCOs sometimes have overlapping boundaries; City Council generally consults the most established RCO in a neighborhood about bike lane projects.
• Business improvement districts (BIDs): groups of local businesses that represent specific commercial areas of the city. City Council consults BIDs about some bike lane projects, especially if they could affect operations.
• Political wards: primary election divisions defined by the Democratic Party. Wards are not involved in PBA projects. However, wards may help you network with city leaders.

Learn more about RCOs from the City of Philadelphia website.

City Council has an additional seven at-large Councilmembers whose votes are important to city-wide policies. While you are represented by only one district Councilmember, you are represented by all at-large Councilmembers.

Getting the Mayor’s support for a safe streets initiative also goes a long way. The Mayor’s office includes the Office of Transportation and Infrastructure Systems (OTIS), the Department of Streets, and other divisions of city government.

Learn the details of local government from Committee of Seventy's "How Philly Works" guide.

Find your District and RCO

Use PBA's RCO finder tool to figure out which RCO represents your address. You may be represented by multiple RCOs.

To see which Councilmember represents your address in City Council, use our tool or check the City Council District Map.

Contact City Council

Contact your Councilmember about issues you care about. Remember to:

• Be courteous!
• Calling is preferable to email, but either works!
• Don't be shy about contacting them regularly.
• Specify your address so they know you're their constituent.
• Include your Councilmember's staff as a CC to increase the likelihood of a response.

Councilmembers' web pages have public staff directories. City email addresses generally follow the format: firstname.lastname@phila.gov.

Contact the Mayor

The Mayor also represents you! Fill out the mayor's correspondence form to make your voice heard.

Contact city and state offices

• Office of Transportation and Infrastructure Systems (OTIS): the office responsible for planning bike lanes on city-owned roads.
  
  Contact OTIS with ideas on which bike lanes need improvement!
  
  OTIS is technically an umbrella organization for three city departments:
  
  • Office of Multimodal Planning: responsible for planning bike lanes -- our most relevant city department.
  • Department of Streets: responsible for physically paving streets and installing bike lanes.
    • Check the Street Repaving Map to align your advocacy with repaving.
  • Philadelphia Water Department (PWD)
    

• Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT): the agency responsible for planning bike lanes on state-owned roads. Philadelphia is part of PennDOT District 6.
  • The best time to give feedback on PennDOT projects is during the early design phase. Use the PennDOT contact form.
  • PBA coordinates targeted feedback on PennDOT bike lane projects, so create a PBA account to stay updated!
  • PennDOT is also beholden to your State Representatives and Senators.

• Philadelphia Parking Authority: a city department under the purview of the state government.
  • Submit parking enforcement requests through the city website.
  • See PBA's guide on reporting bike lane obstructions.
  • For information about how PPA enforcement and funding works, see the PPA Blog.