According to the 2013 American Community Survey, over 62,000 Bay Area residents use a bicycle as their primary means of getting to work every day. According to the SFMTA, between 2014 and 2015 in San Francisco alone, bike commuting increased by 8.5 percent! On Bike to Work Day, we expect tens of thousands of people to bike to work across the Bay Area with many being first-time bike commuters.
Britt and Bryce Tanner, along with their two kids Kai and Nilsa, are the first-ever Bike Commuting Family of the Year. Both engineers working in San Francisco, Britt and Bryce have their biking routine down to a science. “I was biking first,” explains Britt, “and I convinced him that it was a faster way to get everywhere, more efficient than walking. And when we had kids we just continued to do it and had to figure out ways that we could make our lives work well, still being able to bike everywhere.”
For Britt and Bryce, that has meant making major life decisions around the logistics of family biking. When they moved to Albany, they made sure to buy their house close to BART and just half a block from the Ohlone Greenway. “We’ve chosen our schools based on how bike able they are,” added Britt.
“We got our orange cargo bike with electric assist so that we could bike our kids places once they got heavier,” said Britt. “It became such a pain to put the trailer on and off. I wanted to be able to get up and go just as you do with a car. I just wanted to throw the kids on the bike.”
When it’s raining, Kai and Nilsa still hop on the bike, holding an umbrella on the back. “They’ve grown up doing it so they’re used to the expectation that they’re going to bike even if it’s raining,” says Britt.
Bryce and Britt have shared their love of bicycling with other families in Albany. As core members of Albany Strollers & Rollers, they work with other bike advocates to improve bicycling and organize community biking events. Working with Bike East Bay, Britt has organized family biking training at Kai’s school and their family has inspired several friends to start biking themselves.
The next generation of Tanner bike commuters already is pedaling. Kai and Nilsa both learned to ride pedal bikes before they were four, following right in their parents’ footsteps. Ride on, Tanner family!
To learn more about other Bike Commuters of the Year click here.
When:
Thursday, May 11, 2017
Where:
400 Bay Area Energizer stations
For more information on the event itself click here.
