Bicyclists on the Stone Arch Bridge, Minneapolis

The 2008 Census American Community Survey results are out and more Americans are bicycling than ever.  There’s still much room for improvement, but between 2000-2008, commuting to work by bicycle in the US has increased 43%. That’s HUGE! Dero hometown, Minneapolis keeps it’s second place of major cities increasing 10% over 2007 to 4.3%. Portland made the large jump in percentage and number of riders with an increase from 3.9% to 6%. See more stats below and find out how your city did with the American Fact Finder.

NOTES: The ACS numbers are estimated by the Census bureau based on samples taken year-round. The numbers in the tables above are rounded, if you calculate the percentages based on the rounded numbers, you’ll get different values than are presented in the second table.

Dero Bike Racks will be at the 2009 ASLA Annual Meeting & Expo in Chicago this weekend (Sept 18-21). Changing leaves, mild temperatures, and innovative design make Chicago a perfect location for landscape architecture professionals to assemble. The meeting will feature more than 125 education sessions, field sessions, and tours over four days. Stop by our booth to see what we’ve been up to this year or just to keep Mark company. Hope to see you there.

The Freiker (frequent biker) program officially started today at the Seward Montessori in Minneapolis. Dero is a proud partner with Freiker, which offers incentives to kids to bike or walk to school. The program develops healthy active lifestyles at a young age and also reduces the negative effects of trips made by car.

The local Fox TV affiliate was present at the event which was also attended by Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak.

For Immediate Release

HEALTHY HABITS ARE IN MOTION!
Providing healthy, active transportation incentives for kids using RFID technology

MINNEAPOLIS, MN – September 1, 2009 – When Seward Montessori School kids walk or ride their bikes to school this fall, they will be participating in an incentives program which uses radio frequency identification (RFID) technology to record and report the number of times that they arrive by foot or pedal-power. The program, which will be dedicated by Minneapolis Mayor, RT Rybak helps reduce traffic congestion, improves air quality, promotes a sense of neighborhood community and motivates kids to develop lifelong healthy habits.

“The technology is similar to the Fast Pass RFID system used on the High Occupancy Vehicle Lanes, only used to reduce car trips and motivate kids to use active transportation”, explains Dero Bike Racks co-owner Hans Steege, local manufacturer of the system. “Children have an RFID tag affixed to their helmet if biking, or on their backpack if walking. When kids arrive at school, the Freiker/Dero ZAP device recognizes the tag which is registered to a specific child with an audible beep and a flashing light. The solar powered, wifi-connected system, transmits the data securely to a website that tabulates the trips for each child. Schools will typically have some type of reward program in place that recognizes children for participating.”

Freiker (frequent + biker, rhymes with “hiker”), a non profit company based in Boulder, Colorado, pioneered the concept of using RFID technology and incentives to encourage kids to bike or walk to school. They currently have programs in 11 schools in 4 states. Steve Norman at Freiker says, “The Freiker/Dero ZAP system does the counting and the prizes provide the motivation”.

According to Ned Levine, Crest View Colorado Elementary School Principal, “Our bike racks are overflowing. Everybody at Crest View loves the Freiker program and the extra encouragement it provides to students to bike to school”.

The Dero Bike Rack Company, is located in the Seward neighborhood and manufactures the ZAP devices. Dero will be donating a ZAP system to the Seward Montessori School in order to kick start the program locally. Freiker distributes the systems to K-12 schools. Dero markets them to university and corporate campuses. 15% of all Dero sales from the ZAP system are donated to Freiker to further their efforts to get kids riding, providing measurable results and energizing the school community.

The system will be presented to the school and demonstrated at 7 am Wednesday, September 16th. Speakers from Freiker, Seward Montessori and Mayor RT Rybak will dedicate the system.

See pictures and video

Contacts:
Mark Skoine-Dero Bike Racks 612-359-0689
mark@dero.com www.dero.com

Steve Norman-Freiker 720-878-4503
steve.norman@mac.com www.freiker.org

Kathy Kurdelmeier –Seward Parent/Bike Advocate
kkurdelmeier@comcast.net