With chilly weather supposedly, mostly (let’s hope) out of the way, advocates of alternative transportation stage “you can do it” style events in May to encourage Arkansans to emerge from our four-wheel caves and to hibernate no more.
They want us to walk or take a bus to work, school, church or on errands. Or to ride a bicycle.
Or to join a carpool. Or do some combination of all four.
In central Arkansas, a coalition of agencies is dangling discounts and snacks in front of residents who promise to “Ditch the Keys” for a week that begins with “Car-Free” Sunday and ends with Bike to Work Day on May 16.
Residents who register at ditchthekeys.com can pick up a button that’s good for rewards they can collect May 16. The goodies include free or discount food, free showers, free bike storage and discounts at bike shops and on bike rentals. People who bike to a news conference at the Old State House Museum at 7:30 a.m. May 16 will receive free pant straps or free blinky lights from the cities.
After key-ditchers register, their buttons can be obtained at the offices of Metroplan, Pulaski County Cooperative Extension Service, University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture Cooperative Extension Service or the city halls of Little Rock and North Little Rock.
From 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. May 12, employees of Central Arkansas Transit Authority will be at the Little Rock River Market to answer questions about how to ride the bus, including how to use the bike racks on the front of every city bus.
The week culminates with Bike to Work Convoys on May 16. As in the past, volunteer ride leaders will meet all comers at certain locations along 11 routes, which are posted on a map at ditchthekeys.com. Each group will pedal in a leisurely fashion, without abandoning uncertain newbies along the way, although anyone whose job or school lies along the path is expected to abandon the group right there;
all but two groups ultimately will reach the Old State House Museum in time for the 7:30 a.m. newsconference.
The two that won’t are a group in Conway and a convoy that begins in western Little Rock and ends up at Northshore Business Park near Cook’s Landing and the River Trail.
Unlike in years past, to contact a leader of a route you are interested in joining, you simply click on the circled number of that route on the map document. Up comes an email addressed to that volunteer.
As described on the website, which is hosted by the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department, the week is “an awareness-building campaign that encourages central Arkansas residents to protect air quality by using alternate modes of transportation and to reduce outdoor activities on high-ozone days.”
Considering that biking, walking and standing at the bus stop are all outdoor activities, it’s helpful that Ozone Action Days are not typically called in spring. Rather they happen in high summer when intense sunlight and still air combine to produce potentially harmful levels of ground-level ozone, air pollution that can cause chest pain, coughing, throat irritation and congestion.
Reducing the use of gasoline-powered automobiles and engines reduces the amount of ozone in the air, according to the website.
CONWAY
Conway Advocates for Bicycling (CAB) also has posted a plan for a month of commuter-rewarding programs.
The Conway Commuter Challenge is a local version of the National Commuter Challenge sponsored by the League of American Bicyclists and Kimberly-Clark Corp. Participants can register through a link at cycleconway.com to compete for local prizes.
During Bike Out to Eat Week, May 12-16, people who show up on their bicycles at any of nine Conway restaurants will get a free soft drink with their purchase of a meal.
And from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. May 16, the group will offer a Bike to Work Breakfast in Simon Park for participants in a group ride that will begin at the west Conway Wal-Mart and end near City Hall.
NORTHWEST ARKANSAS
Bicycle Coalition of the Ozarks is again touting local prizes in several categories for a one-month Commuter Challenge that is part of the League of American Bicyclists’ national May-through-September contest to see which states recruit the most cyclists to travel the most miles on their bicycles. “Participate in Our Mile a Day Challenge,” the flier urges. “Just ride 31 miles over 25 days in the month of May to receive a prize.”
A link to the national registration site is available online at nwatrails.org, bconwa.com and through the coalition’s newsletter, which is posted on its Facebook group page, which can be found by searching facebook.com for “Bicycle Coalition of the Ozarks (BCO).”
The Northwest Arkansas Bike Challenge is a joint effort of the Northwest Arkansas Council and the Bicycle Coalition of the Ozarks. For more information or for help signing up, contact Paxton Roberts at paxton@bconwa.com or Misty Murphy at misty@nwacouncil.org.
ActiveStyle, Pages 25 on 05/05/2014