SWFBUD -- South West Florida Bicyclists United With Dealers: SWFBUD Addresses TBARTA At Its Monthly Meeting

Friday, June 27, 2008

SWFBUD Addresses TBARTA At Its Monthly Meeting

This morning I represented SWFBUD and addressed the board of TBARTA (Tampa Bay Area Regional Transportation Authority). The TBARTA Board, chaired by former Bucs player Shelton Quarles, held its monthly board meeting at a golf course country club off State Road 52 near I-75. We need to let people know who serve on governing boards and in transportation agencies that bicyclists need a piece of the pie. Let your voice be heard.

Here was the statement I read into the TBARTA record:

"My name is Alan Snel and I am the director of SWFBUD, which stands for South West Florida Bicycle United Dealers. It’s an attention-grabbing play on words of that water agency name. SWFBUD is a coalition of seven prominent retail bicycle stores in Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco counties and we and our thousands of loyal pedaling customers are united behind one voice – a voice that is committed to advancing bicycling as an effective means of transportation and as a healthy lifestyle in the Tampa Bay region.

In much the same way you get in your car and apply your seat belt, I hop on my bicycle and strap on helmet. I pedal more than 12,000 miles a year in the Tampa Bay area. I have bike-commuted in cities such as New York City, Denver and Fort Lauderdale and I am here to ask you one thing – please integrate bicycling into every facet of your regional transportation planning and execution.

I talk with people all the time who want to bike to work or bike to the store or bike to the park and for many inexperienced cyclists they perceive the current road conditions as too dangerous. No safe place to ride a bicycle.

That needs to change and it will change through your political will and through your bicycle planning in your regional transportation plans. Please make your proposed corridors friendly to bicyclists – require all buses and any potential light rail to include accommodations for bicycles. Have bicycle storage stations at major park-and-rides. Require all roads to have a bike lane when you fix, widen or build a road.

I pledge SWFBUD will do our part. SWFBUD is holding a giant bicycle festival on October 19 in Vinoy Park in St. Petersburg to advocate and celebrate bicycling in all its forms, including bike-commuting. I am personally inviting each one of you to attend the Bicycle Bash by the Bay. SWFBUD also held the first of its “Pedal Power” lecture series just last night at one of our member bike shops and two speakers representing TBARTA – Brian Bollas and Brandie Miklus – spoke about your plans and we responded with one word – bicycle.

Bicycling makes sense and it’s cost-effective. I hope we can be a resource to you as you blend bicycling into your transportation plans and please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions. I appreciate your time.

Sincerely,

Alan Snel
Director of SWFBUD, 7 Tampa Bay area bike shops united behind bicycle advocacy and home of the 2008 Bicycle Bash by the Bay
www.bicyclebash.com
www.swfbud.blogspot.com

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WHAT IS SWFBUD and HOW DID IT START?

SWFBUD (South West Florida Bicycle United Dealers) is a Tampa Bay bicycle advocacy alliance of 12 bicycle store dealers and four law firms committed to raising the profile of bicycling in the Tampa Bay market, getting more people on bicycles and drawing more public resources for bicycling.

The 12 bike shops are: ABC Bicycles, Bicycle Outfitters, Carrollwood Bicycle Emporium, Chainwheel Drive, Just Ride Bicycles, Oliver's Cycle Sports, Street Fit 360, Trek Bicycle Store of Tampa and Clearwater, Trek Bicycle Store of St. Petersburg, The Ironman Store, University Bicycle Center and Velo Champ. The four law firms are Tom Singletary, J. Steele Olmstead and the Mark Roman Law Group.

The SWFBUD members enlist Alan Snel, a bicycle advocate and former metro newspaper reporter, to lobby local governments to provide more bicycle resources and to put on the Bicycle Bash festival.

SWFBUD is a play on words of Swiftmud, the Tampa Bay water district agency.

SWFBUD traces its roots to the summer of 2006, when then-Carrollwood Bicycle Emporium owner David Luppino (who now owns Just Ride Bicycles) hired Snel for promotions, marketing and to help put on the Bicycle Bash festival. At the start of 2007, Luppino believed it was appropriate that other Tampa Bay bike stores get involved in promoting bicycling, so Snel recruited other store dealers to get involved.

The Bicycle Bash was first held in October 2006 on the St. Pete Times Forum plaza before a Tampa Bay Lightning afternoon hockey game before SWFBUD moved the Bicycle Bash to St. Petersburg's Vinoy Park in 2007 and 2008 and to North Straub Park in downtown St. Petersburg in 2009. In 2010, the Bicycle Bash was moved into Hillsborough County's Flatwoods Park on Nov. 7 so that bicyclists can enjoy the Bash's exhibitor village and also have fun doing live biking in the park. In 2011, the Bicycle Bash will be held again at Flatwoods Park on NOV 6.

SWFBUD won national retail bicycle advocacy awards in 2009 from the Bicycle Retailer and Industry News (BRAIN) and the Trek Bicycle Corporation. The Bicycle Bash won the Florida Event of the Year in 2007 from the Florida Bicycle Association.

SWFBUD's Snel attends many public meetings in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties, plus the National Bike Summit in Washington, D.C. to lobby political leaders and governing agencies to commit more resources to bicycling. SWFBUD believes communities that embrace and invest in bicycling become more successful and sustainable.

Flatwoods Park Ranger Thanks SWFBUD For Saving Park and Jobs

SWFBUD Wins National Bicycle Advocacy Award

The national magazine that covers the bicycle industry in this country honored SWFBUD with the 2009 Bicycle Retail Advocacy Award at the Bicycle Leadership Conference in Monterey, Calif. SWFBUD is deeply honored by this national recognition and I received the award from Megan Tompkins, editor of Bicycle Retailer and Industry News, and Tim Blumenthal, executive editor of Bikes Belong Coalition. Click photo for more info and check SP Times story, too: http://www.tampabay.com/news/humaninterest/article996595.ece