Current Topics of Interest

• Bike Bucks
• Annual Bike Count
• Bikely Routes
• Bikely instructions
• Velo drive
• Jerseys

A Few Useful Links

• WABA
• Metro Bike & Ride
• One Less Car
• Bike Washington
• Bikely
• Proteus Bikes
• The Bicycle Place
• Conte's Bicycle

Bike Bucks

RIDE, LOG, EARN and SHOP!

We continue to run the NIH Bike Bucks project that rewards bike commuters for providing the pollution-reducing, traffic congestion-reducing, fossil-fuel conserving, health-care cost reducing service we provide.

The basic idea of our Bike Bucks program is that you, NIH Bicycle Commuters, log your bike-commuting miles and for every one hundred (100) bike-miles logged, five (5) Bike Bucks will be awarded. These Bike Bucks are like coupons or vouchers that are honored as cash with select participating vendors. Participation in the Bike Bucks program does not affect your rights to claim Federal Transhare benefits.

There are now FIVE places you can spend your Bike Bucks.

You can use Bike Bucks to cover up to 15% of the cost of a three-month NIH Fitness Center membership,

Bike Bucks can be used to cover up to 50% of the purchase of goods (not labor) at Proteus Bicycles in College Park, MD...
...and can be similarly spent with the same conditions at The Bicycle Place in Silver Spring, MD.

You can also use your Bike Bucks towards the price of your NIHBCC jersey. (You can use ONE Five Bike Bucks note per jersey).

To begin logging your commuting miles and earning your NIH Bike Bucks complete the NIH Bike Bucks Program Application. After reading and agreeing to the rules for earning and spending Bike Bucks (contained within the application document). Then start logging your miles using the Bike Mileage Excel Spreadsheet. (note: if you use Internet Explorer, please right-click on the link and chose 'Save Link...', save to a location on your computer and then open the file with a spreadsheet application.)

If you have questions or comments about the program, if you have an idea about a vendor you would like to see honor our NIH Bike Bucks, or if you are yourself a vendor interested in more details about the club or the Bike Bucks program, contact NIHBCC president Angela Atwood-Moore (atwood@box-a.nih.gov) directly.

Car-Free Week is also NIHBCC Bike Count and Commuter Survey Week!

As part of our week-long tribute to International Car-Free Day, we are planning on reviving our annual fall Bike Count and this year we’re also adding a “ Bicycle Information and Kommuter exchange survey” or “BiKes”. Our aim is to get a better sense of what you like about bike commuting and what would make your bike commute even better! The combined count and survey data will be used to estimate the numbers of cyclists using facilities at NIH, to indicate precisely where we most need new and improved facilities and to identify the consensus priorities for amenities enhancements among NIH Bicycle Commuters.

Bike Count

Over the course of Car-Free week, club volunteers will tour bicycle racks and lockers (at main campus as well as at off-site buildings), noting the number of cyclists using the facilities, the condition of the facilities and identifying bikes that appear to have been abandoned. Bikes will be tagged with Bike Club info to clarify regulations regarding bike parking and to make sure that NIH bike commuters know about the Bicycle Commuter Club, our list-serve, our website, and the many valuable resources we have to offer the NIH community. To count, simply download the “Count Tag” and the “Count Instructions” (which also includes the form you will need to collect and submit your counting data.)

“BiKes” Survey (Bicycle information and Kommuter exchange survey)

Between September 21 and October 5 you are asked to submit completed “BiKes” surveys for tabulation. Data will be used in part to complete our NIH application to be recognized by the League of American Bicyclists as the first federal agency with a “Bicycle Friendly Business” designation. Survey data will also certainly help in our on-going efforts to improve amenities and incentives for those at NIH who choose less-polluting and more physically-active modes of commuting. Starting September 21, you will be able to access the survey here as well as instructions for completion and submission. (I need to get you this survey when complete. Hopefully soon… It’s close!)

To volunteer to count bikes or to help tabulate the Bike Count or “BiKes” commuter survey data, please contact Angela Atwood-Moore directly.