MoonshotBike

This is the moonshot that could change everything.

MoonshotBike is U.S. Transportation Reimagined

Building Better with a New Bicycling Administration within the U.S. Department of Transportation

Our goal is simple. Build better together. State and local bike advocacy organizations have always led and continue to lead the way in doing great and innovative work in the bicycling-for-transportation space. We need them to have dedicated and continuous support from a national plan and federal funding to be more effective, enabling them to lead the effort in building safe infrastructure within cities and between cities and regions. A Bicycling Administration within the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) can help them all move forward together, making bicycling and micro-mobility, the easy, normal, fun, and safe choice for all. We need bike know-how now. We are inclusive of all. We need to elevate bicycling as transportation in the minds of everyone, a new US DOT Bicycling Administration will do this.

ReThinking Transportation

Let’s Make Biking Easy & Normal

What drives us is just the opposite of cars. It is a plan to foster parity and equity while positively impacting climate change by keeping carbon in the ground. Is there anything better? Want to know more about what drives us? See the list below.

Costs of Global Warming

In addition to environmental impacts, there are also significant economic and health consequences, including a rise in infectious diseases over time.

Global Pandemic Impacts

With less access to healthcare and smaller living spaces, the impacts have been profound for marginalized communities and urban/rural areas.

Social Justice Initiatives

Where there is inequity there is a direct tangible effect. Access to safe, reliable transportation options is essential to help evolve urban, suburban, and rural landscapes.

Western Health Crises

Diabetes and heart disease continue to drive premature mortality for many. Active vs. passive transportation options create essential health benefits to counter this trend. It’s healthier to ride a bike than it is to sit in a car.

Proposal

MoonshotBike: Transportation Reimagined

Access a full version of what MoonshotBike wants to do, and our vision for doing it. Here we’ll walk you through our goals and process to instantiate bicycling as a reliable, safe transportation option for us, regardless of geographical location or financial means.

Numbers Tell the Story

The United States (U.S.) has 4.25% of world's population and yet currently produces 343% more than what should be our share of global greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE). After China, the U.S. is the second-largest GHG producer on the planet.

And while electric automobile options continue to grow in function and popularity among consumers and businesses alike, electric options are not without significant impact to the environment. Electricity generation is responsible for 26.9% of GHGs, and to build the solar capacity needed to fuel an all-electric fleet would cost roughly 6% of GDP.

This problem is too large for a single-solution approach. Reimagining transportation to incorporate safe, accessible, multi-modal options with minimal impact to the environment, while positively impacting global warming, takes work and imagination. We have a plan to do just that.

GHGE by Country

Published Jul 16, 2008 Updated Aug 12, 2020

Source: Union of Concerned Scientists

Notable Facts

Biking Fatalities & Funding

Biking and walking are: 12% of trips in US, 20% of fatalities and receive 1% of funding from the Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP). If funding were proportional to fatalities, biking and walking safety programs would receive $412 million instead of $20 million annually.

-Caron Whitaker, Presentation, League of American Bicyclists National Bike Summit, 2021

Bike infrastructure makes everyone safer

Better safety outcomes are… associated with a greater prevalence of bike facilities – particularly protected and separated bike facilities… Higher intersection density, which typically corresponds to more compact and lower-speed built environments, was strongly associated with better road safety outcomes for all road users.

Wesley Marshall, Nicholas Ferenchak, Journal of Transport and Health

20 Bicycling Communities Around the Globe

One thing is certain, many cities around the world, understand the efficiency, positive impacts and benefits of a bicycling culture. Get insight into some of the most innovative bicycling initiatives as told by Wired.com. In the article **The 20 Most Bike-Friendly Cities on the Planet, Ranked**, what stands out is that not a single one is in the United States. Read to understand how with simple, human-centered design, “the bicycle continues to shine as the most efficient, practical, and reliable solution to urban mobility.”

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The Impact of a Biking
on Culture

As we seek to change the transportation landscape in the U.S., we must take into account what impact that change has on our culture as a whole. And while we can’t know that beforehand, there is ample proof that the benefits of a cycle culture are profound with regard to health impacts and access to job opportunities and local economies.. This article focuses on the sociology of cycling and all the benefits we can anticipate to move forward.

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MoonshotBike Proposal

Welcome to the MoonshotBike Proposal. With a new *Bicycling Administration* within the Department of Transportation (DOT) we can work to ensure that the institutional bias towards car-centric transportation does not impede programs that elevate biking. In the MoonshotBike Blog we explore the many ways why such an administration is important, as seen through the cycling stories that have changed people’s lives.

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What They Said…

“Nothing compares to the simple pleasures of riding a bike.”

— John F. Kennedy

When I teach people to ride, whether they are 3 or 73, I never know who’s having the most fun, me or them. Watching the smile that covers someone's face as they get the glide and then start pedaling is wonderfully infectious and inspiring. We all say it feels like flying. Teaching a person to ride is the ultimate positive sum experience, and we are both empowered by it.

— Diane Serafini, MoonshotBike Founder

“It all began with a phone call. Diane spoke for a couple of minutes and I was all in. I’m usually more pragmatic, but this was a no-brainer. I’m not just a fan of cycling, but a fan of the positive impacts it makes in the lives of those who cycle. It’s easy. It’s access. It’s freedom.”