May in Motion (MiM) is more than halfway over, and Team BBP is riding strong. Hopefully you’ve heard us talk about MiM before. It’s ACHD Commuteride’s month-long initiative to rally organizations to promote smart commuting. For MiM, smart commuting falls under these categories: bike, walk, bus, carpool, vanpool. Over 80% of Treasure Valley employees commute to work by car, and most of these commuters are driving single occupancy cars. That’s a lot of traffic and congestion for our growing valley. BBP is so pleased by the work that ACHD Commuteride does to host MiM, work that makes a difference in our community’s transportation footprint.

It’s a huge endeavor, and we’re thankful. While MiM awards organizations deemed Transportation Champions, we’re really just in it for the sake of sustainable commuting and the joy of the ride. I acknowledge that BBP may be a pedal stroke ahead of other organizations by the nature of what we do. Heck, we’re a bicycling nonprofit. We have a “bicycle commuter incentive program” built into our regular employee benefits package; and our employee bike parking area is always filled to the brim. But when we ride to work, we’re showing up in “BBP Casual” (a term I just made up last week), and we don’t have parameters that require us to change, shower, or show up in a suit and tie. I’m really impressed by all of the commuters out there who have a different kind of work wardrobe than I do, or those who have a longer commute than I do, and yet still choose to commute sustainably.

For the fun of it, I thought I’d give you an update on where Team BBP stands (or should I say sits…on a saddle) a little over halfway through MiM. As of Monday morning (5/20), our team of 8 full time and 10 part time (some extremely part time) employees have completed 209 bicycle commutes and a pedaled a total of 1,372 bicycle commuting miles. Our team’s shortest round trip commute is 2 miles, and the longest is 10.4 miles (a tie between two employees!). There are a few of us who live in the downtown/North End neighborhoods, several of us on the bench, and several of us in Hill Road neighborhoods. Only one BBP fan-favorite staffer commutes from the east side. His commute is second longest…if you’re counting.

If you’ve been riding this month, you know there have been some extremely hot days, some extremely windy days, and some rainy days. It’s great to have a common goal and a shared purpose to keep us all riding; and that applies to our unique team as well as our relationship to everyone else in the community participating in MiM. I’m stoked to see how team BBP rounds out the month.

-Em