Winners from last month’s Bike Commuter Challenge highlight how easy and popular bike commuting has become in Chicagoland.
Active Transportation Alliance has been hosting the Bike Commuter Challenge for 17 years.
Rising to the occasion were the likes of the Chicago Department of Transportation–which remained champion by holding the Village of Oak Lawn for the 500+ category–and the growing Metropolitan Planning Council, which cleaned up in the 25-99 category in 2010, and this year took the place of the Chicago Department of Environment as the 100-499 tier champion.
The business category saw two major upsets: Groupon and Whole Foods knocked off perennial favorites Orbitz and The Burke Group, respectively.
A near-record number of businesses competed for the Bike Commuter Challenge title. Employees from 424 companies took to two wheels during Bike to Work Week in June. The annual Bike Commuter Challenge competition is part of a weeklong biking celebration hosted by the municipalities around the region and Active Transportation Alliance, Chicagoland’s voice for better biking, walking and transit.
Offices tracked participation based on the number of employees who took at least one partial or complete trip to work by bike during the week of June 11-17. Teams competed in categories based on their staff size and type of business.
“We saw more interest in bike safety this year, based on participant feedback, and we saw lots of creative tactics used to get people on bikes. Chicagoland’s workforce is getting healthier and happier by biking to work,” said Ron Burke, executive director of the Active Transportation Alliance
And the Bike Commuter Challenge winners are…
Public Agency
500+ employees: City of Chicago Department of Transportation
100-499: Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning
25-99: Peace Corps
5-24: Village of Buffalo Grove, City of Des Plaines (tie)
Business
500+: Groupon
100-499: Whole Foods Market Chicago
25-99: Studio Gang Architects
5-24: Pagit Systems, Gilasi Recycled Surfaces, Calor Design Group, Ltd., BEHLES+BEHLES, Mightybytes, Erehwon Mountain Outfitter, Pepper Group (tie)
Non-profit
500+: The Field Museum
100-499: Center for Neighborhood Technology
25-99: Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum
5-24: American Lung Association in Greater Chicago, West Town Bikes/Ciclo Urbano (tie)
<5: Chicago Appleseed Fund for Justice
K-12 School
100-499: Ridgewood High School
25-99: Coonley Elementary School
College/University
500+: Moraine Valley Community College (Main Campus)
100-499: Northwestern University Library
25-99: Robert Morris University (Sustainability Council)
5-24: University of Illinois at Chicago (Office of Sustainability)
Bicycle-related Business
25-99: REI Lincoln Park
5-24: Spin Doctor Cyclewerks
Other
500+: Argonne National Laboratory
100-499: National Association of REALTORS
25-99: Obama for America
Bike to Work Week is sponsored by Goose Island Brewery, Fisher Nuts, The Burke Group, Caribou Coffee, Clif 2Mile Challenge, County of DuPage, SRAM, Village Cycle Center and ING Direct.
