Bicycling is essential

As governments respond to the coronavirus pandemic, several have restricted travel and business operation to stop the spread of the virus. These orders direct people to stay home and non-essential businesses to close.

Staying home to limit the spread of the coronavirus is a public health need, and “stay home” orders are one of the strongest tools national, state and local leaders have to stop the spread. But not everyone can work from home. And not everyone has the ability to travel by car or public transit.

As states and cities are considering which businesses are essential, most are finding – initially or eventually – that bicycling is essential. For people without access to cars, who do not want to risk the use of public transit – bicycling is essential. For people who use their bicycle to deliver food, groceries, and other goods – bicycling is essential. For people who need to get out and be active while maintaining distance from others – bicycling is essential.

Supporting all that essential bicycling are bike shops, large and small. Bike shops, whether they repair or sell bikes, provide essential services to make sure that people have working and safe bicycles. Bicycle shops are essential businesses for people to be able to use one of the lowest costs, healthiest, and most resilient forms of transportation – the bicycle.

We are asking all state and local officials to designate bicycle shops as essential businesses. Please use our resources and reach out to your state and local officials on this issue:

• Use this template letter of support from the League on the designation of bicycle shops as essential businesses
• We’re interested in getting more information as states and communities consider this issue, please let us know what’s happening in your community by completing this survey 
• If your government has not designated bicycle shops as essential, please reach out to me – [email protected] – and I can set up a campaign page to direct messages to them

Bicycling is essential and now is yet another time for the best transportation invention ever – the bicycle – to show how crucial it is to the lives of many and the resiliency of our communities.