It really has to start with citizens and with a few good projects. People and relationships make all the difference. Find others who feel the same and strategize some next steps. Maybe go to an advocate's conference.

You need to know where the gaps in your existing system are. That takes just looking at your city's bike map. Collision data is readily available at UC Berkeley's TIMS website. And local bike count data is invaluable, as well. The City of Long Beach has been doing counts for a number of years now, and that gives us a…

In the best case, you really want arguments coming from a number of angles. Those in the public health world are really becoming a great partner because they know we need to be more active in our daily lives, and that active transportation choices are a great way to get there. From another angle, bike projects,…

Separated on-street bikeways are the future. I think they're the coolest and in the U.S., the most innovative facility you can pursue.

Before I started my new job in Long Beach, I took myself on a short trip to Copenhagen. You can't find a bike map there because every single street has been made very comfortable for bicycling and now they're adding bicycle highways. Beyond the facilities themselves they've also made their city just very livable…

That generational divide may just be something that happens at public meetings. I don't know. I do know that, again, the safety benefits are a compelling argument to a broad range of people. And even if you're not a bicyclist, you probably know someone that is or wants to get around by bike more often than they…

I think it is important that bike projects be more than just about bicycling. Coupling them with pedestrian improvements, even vehicle movement improvements as possible, and good aesthetics, go a long way toward advertising their benefits to more than just bicyclists. But even the aesthetics of a roundabout are…

Greenways are really important, but I do think our streets are the lifeblood of our cities, and if we want to encourage more people to bicycle, making our streets better places for bicycling is the right place to start. In a perfect world, you'd have both. The easy and happy compromise is to start with adding better…

There are a lot of groups out there now organizing fantastic group rides that are really a great way to ease into bicycling. Meeting people who've similarly made steps into it can go a long way. Cyclists Inciting Change via Live Exchange (C.I.C.L.E.) was a group that helped me tremendously when I was getting into…

The safety benefits that bike lanes provide, not just to bicyclists, but also to pedestrians, can be compelling. I have had at least one person come up to me after a meeting and say she had changed her mind because of our presentation.

One of the most important things is to acknowledge that we are proposing a change. And we try to understand and explain what we think that change will be as thoroughly as possible. And then I try to put that change in context, compared to all the multiple benefits we expect from these types of projects.