Video: Bikes + Business, Pedaling Our Economy Forward

San Francisco businesses are embracing bicycling. From small mom-and-pop shops to large corporations, business owners are recognizing the benefits of bicycling for their employees, for their customers and for their city.

This year, the SF Bicycle Coalition launched an extensive business outreach program to help local companies encourage bicycling at their workplace. We’re thrilled to share our most recent bikes and business outreach: a short film we made that highlights four San Francisco voices speaking to the benefits of biking for businesses and for the local economy.

The five-minute version premiered at the SF Urban Film Fest at SPUR on November 5, and we’re now working on a shorter version that will be useful for further growing support for bikes in the workplace. If you want to hop on this bikes + business bike train, check out all of our business opportunities at sfbike.org/business.

Why do businesses support better biking? Lots of reasons! A growing number of studies (such as this, this and this) are showing that better biking means better business, and that investing in bike infrastructure is also an investment in the local economy. On the HR side, employees arrive more awake and alert, and the regular exercise fosters a healthier workforce. From the customer side, people who bike stop and shop, on average, more frequently at stores they are passing by. People biking and walking also put less stress on our roadways and on public transit networks, thus saving the City money at the same time.

Enormous thanks to Sarah Gonzalez for volunteering to direct, shoot and edit this film; to Andrew Montoya and the Bay Area Video Coalition for supporting us with equipment; to Diana Salier for composing and donating the music; and to our Communications Assistant, Ellie McCutcheon, for producing and filming the project.

Of course, thanks also to Erin Decker at Salesforce.com, Pete Mulvihill at Green Apple Books, Joaquin Torres at the Office of Economic and Workforce Development’s Invest in Neighborhoods and to Zack Stender of Huckleberry Bicycles for being a part of this film!

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