It’s a Day for Taking 2 Wheels, Not 4

Margie Saltzberg will wake up 20 minutes earlier than usual today, dust off the cobwebs from her 10-speed bike and pedal to her job three miles away at Travelers Insurance in Brea.

But don’t think she has any plans for making her participation in Bike to Work Day a habit: “This is just a fun thing for a day,” she said.

Her morning responsibilities of getting her young children ready for school and delivering them to the bus stop prevent her from biking to work regularly, she said.

Saltzberg’s situation is symptomatic of the uphill battle cycling advocates are waging to promote bicycles as a viable commuting alternative, says Michelle Mowery, the Southern California coordinator for Bike to Work.

“This is social behavior,” Mowery said. “It’s difficult to get people to think differently.”

Only 1% of Southern California commuters use bicycles to get to the workplace, while 79% drive alone, according to a survey by Southern California Rideshare, a regional agency.

Bike to Work Day was created five years ago by a Bay Area group to promote cycling as a commuting option. But government and corporate support for the annual event has been dismal in Southern California and, in particular, in Orange County, said K.C. Butler, statewide coordinator for the event.

For instance, only about a dozen corporations are participating in the event this year, and no major festivities have been organized in the county, as they have been elsewhere in the state.

The event’s creator, the nonprofit California Bicycle Coalition, sought $40,000 from the cash-rich Orange County Transportation Authority, but Butler said the agency declined to provide any funding.

But coalition officials point out that they have made significant strides in turning the county into a more bike-friendly place. More than 700 miles of bike trails crisscross the county, and bike racks were added in front of all OCTA buses earlier this year.

Butler and other cycling proponents say the lack of significant support at the county, city and corporate level extends to bicycling programs in general, not just the Bike to Work event.

The result, he said, is that Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Riverside counties will have about 2,000 participants. By contrast, 6,000 Bay Area residents and 5,000 San Diego residents will pedal to work.

Elsewhere, support is growing.

The San Diego Assn. of Governments has poured $50,000 into the event every year. Sponsors have set up several dozen locations as “pit stops” where riders can stop to pick up prizes, food and refreshments, Butler said.

Butler said no coordinated effort to promote the event has been made in Orange County.

Butler pointed to a 1996 survey in San Diego in which 25% of the residents at the event that year were first-time bike commuters, and a third of them rode their bikes to work regularly after the event.