Seattle is my favorite city to visit in August because the weather is absolutely perfect for enjoying the outdoors and biking. And bikewise there’s a lot happening in Seattle right now to be excited about. Take its creative, bright blue bike-lane separators (bollards, technically, for you transportation nerds) as one clever example.
Seattle is home to the most influential walking and biking advocacy groups in the country, with the Cascade Bicycle Club leading the way — along with allied folks like Seattle Neighborhood Greenways and local blogs like Seattle Bike Blog — to push for changes to the city’s public spaces. Seattle is investing heavily in bike infrastructure, with brand-new protected bike lanes and a bike-sharing system just rolling out. The new bike lanes on Second Avenue have already tripled bike traffic.
Despite all the hills … and the rain … and the sprawl, more people in Seattle get to work without a car than any other city on the West Coast (check out these handy graphs from the University of Oklahoma for the visual proof). That’s not just because people in Seattle are a special breed, but because city leaders and effective advocacy groups are bringing smarter design to their city, making it a friendlier place for humans to get around.
The best resources for biking Seattle come from the Cascade Bicycle Club; you can find bike maps, routes, and other resources. Our PUBLIC store manager in Seattle, Mike V, recommends the route to Ballard and the Ballard Farmers Market — and from there head to Gas Works Park, then along the Burke-Gilman Trail and Lake Washington.
You can grab a custom PUBLIC bike for free from any Kimpton hotel in Seattle, and pedal up to the Capitol Hill neighborhood to explore one of the best areas in town. And when you’re there, come on in and say hello to us at our Seattle PUBLIC store.
