History of Bicycle Advocacy in Austin, TX

Last update: Dec. 26, 2025

This is a work in progress.  In the meantime, feel free to let me know what I’m missing.

There is some overlap between this Advocacy History and the History of City Actions re: bike issues.

1980

The Austin Cycling Association speaks in favor of the Austin Bikeway Plan.  This was Austin’s second attempt at planning for bikes.  I’ve been unable to find exactly when ACA formed, but they were certainly around in 1980.  The ACA I knew in the 1990s-2000s was a sports/rec group, not much interested in bikes as transportation, and I think the earlier version of ACA was te same.

1982

• The annual Moonlight Cruise debuts.  While it doesn’t seem to spawn any advocacy, it’s notable for being the first large urban bike ride. (1982 source) 

Mid-1980s

Bikes Not Bombs.  The group fixes up old bikes and delivers them to the needy in Central America.  The group served as the genesis for another group, the Yellow Bike Project.

1991

The first bicycle map of Austin is published as a partnership between the city, Bike Texas (then the Texas Bicycle Coalition), and local bike shops. (2009 Bicycle Plan, p. 7) 

1993

• Critical Mass makes its appearance in Austin.  Significantly, it was followed by an explosion in bike activism.  This was ground zero; all local advocacy flowed from Critical Mass.
• First email discussion list. Leopoldo Rodriguez starts an email discussion list on a UT server for Critical Mass participants to discuss the ride.  When he moves on Michael Bluejay steps in to manage the list, turning it into the austin-bikes list (which boasted among its membership city councilmembers, city planning staff, Urban Transportation Commission members, etc.).

1995

• First Austin bicycle advocacy website  Michael Bluejay starts it, on an AOL server.  That’s the website you’re reading right now.  One of the highlights is the section No Justice for Cyclists, detailing how at-fault drivers who hurt or kill cyclists typically faced little to no penalties, while cyclists were frequently arrested for minor infractions.
• “The Bicycle Lane” radio show starts.  Tommy Eden launches the show on KO.OP Radio.
• Amy Babich’s letter-writing campaign.  Amy Babich becomes somewhat of a local celebrity by writing frequent pro-bike / anti-car letters to the Austin Chronicle.  It gets covered in the documentary Bike Like U Mean It.

1996

• Cyclists oppose the new helmet law, and the League of Bicycling Voters forms.  City council sneakily passes an all-ages helmet law as an emergency measure to skip the required three readings (at the behest of Doug Ballew), taking the community by surprise.  Cyclists plead with council that the law that the research is clear that helmet laws discourage cycling and that fewer cyclists is conclusively linked with more danger.  They also point out that police will use the law to harass people of color, which is exactly what happened.  The League of Bicycling Voters (LoBV) is formed by Bobby Sledge and others, and makes endorsements in city council races based primarily on whether candidates support repealing the law.  They also collect tens of thousands of petition signatures to force a referendum on the issue, but doesn’t proceed with it because the next year the council amends the law to apply to kids only.  LoBV folds shortly thereafter.
• Yellow Bike Project formed by Dave Baker, Eric Anderson, and I think John Thoms and Lee Gresham.  Dave had been the manager of the Bikes Not Bombs project.  As I write this in Dec. 2025, the decades-old YBP is the second-oldest continuous example of bike advocacy in Austin (the first being the website you’re reading now).
• Political Pedal ride launched.  Following a grand jury’s decision to not indict the driver who killed Tom Churchil, David Foster organizes a “Political Pedal” ride, inviting politicians and candidates (and the general public), to give them a chance to affirm their support for cyclists’ rights.  The ride is continued annually for some years after that.
• Courteous Mass starts.  I started this ride, I think with Tommy Eden, around this year. (source)  It was a “play nice” version of Critical Mass, an idea I got from riders in Athens, GA.  So many cyclists had said they wouldn’t ride Critical Mass because the group often ran red lights and were sometimes confrontational with drivers.  So we started this new laid-bike ride, but then suddenly all those people who said they wanted exactly that kind of ride were nowhere to be found, and the new ride died out quickly.  I restarted it in 2001 with Charles McNeil, with the same result: low turnout and short-lived.
• Cyclist runs for City Council.  Shaun Stenshol, a Critical Mass rider, ran for Place 4 and garnered 0.91% of the vote (including mine).

1997

“Political Pedal” ride.   Local bike advocate David Foster organizes a “Political Pedal” ride and invites all politicians (and the public) to attend.  Notably, every member of the soon-to-be-seated City Council participates.  Foster was motivated in part by the decision of a grand jury not to indict the driver who ran over and killed cyclist Tom Churchill, wanting lawmkakers to demonstrate their commitment to safe cycling by riding themselves.  The ride is nearly spoiled when another cyclist invites the police to attend, who typically threaten to jail (not just ticket) cyclists who aren't wearing helmets. (more...) 

League of Bicycling Voters endorses City Council candidates...and they win.  Seemingly wielding some political influence, both candidates endorsed by the LoBV (Bill Spelman and Willie Lewis) won their races for council.

1998

• Advocates start joining the Urban Transportation Commission.  Bike advocates got smart and instead of begging the city for bike improvements, they became part of the government.  Michael Zakes got appointed in 1998, followed by Patrick Goetz in 1999, and Tommy Eden and Mike Dahmus in 2000.  Also in 2008, Mike Librik was appointed to the Parks and Rec Board.
• Monthly Full Moon rides start around this time.  (From memory; I haven’t been able to document the precise year.)

1999

Crosstown Bikeway conceived.  Yellow Biker Eric Anderson dreams up a “Crosstown Bikeway”, a protected space for cyclists running east-west from Mopac to 183, and lobbies the City to build it.  Amazingly, they agree, but they rename it from Eric’s original idea to the Lance Armstrong Bikeway.

Activists push for a Bicycle Boulevard on Nueces.  They tried their best, but the city eventually said No. (LoBV, Statesman) 

The “Bicycling in Austin” email newsletter is launched by Michael Bluejay.  It would later become Car-Free Austin, and then Car-Free World.

2000

Amy Babich runs for city council.  While she doesn’t get elected, she raises the visibility of cycling issues.

2001

Bikes Across Borders forms.  They fix up old bikes and deliver them to the needy in Mexico.  They’re not entirely new, as their first incarnation was Bikes Not Bombs from the late 80s through mid-90s.

Courteous Mass has another go.  I restarted Courteous Mass with Charles McNeil (the first try was 1996), but it had the same result:  low turnout, and it didn’t last long. (source) 

2002

Bike Like U Mean It documentary covering local bike culture debuts at SXSW and airs nationally on TV multiple times.  It covers Critical Mass, the Yellow Bike Project, Amy Babich’s letter-writing campaign, and the Spinning Wheel Project..

2005

Bicycle Advisory Council forms.  The citizen group advises the Urban Transportation Commission, which in turn advises the city council.  That’s the chain/path to effect change in the city:  BAC > UTC > Council.  (I can’t find the exact year the BAC formed, but I think this could be pretty close.)

2006

• Push for car-free bike lanes on Shoal Creek Blvd.  Michael Bluejay tries to get the city to ban parking in the bike lanes on Shoal Creek, but is unsuccessful.  The issue doesn’t go away, and the city finally does get the cars out of the bike lane some years later.
• Former Mayor Bruce Todd calls for the city council to bring back the bike helmet law.  Rob D'Amico quickly restarts the League of Bicycling Voters to oppose the effort.  Cyclist Patrick Goetz participates in a public debate with former Mayor Todd, and cyclists swarm a city council meeting to oppose the effort.  The city declines to reinstate the law.  LoBV sticks around this time, and then morphs into Bike Texas.
• Please Be Kind to Cyclists forms.  After a careless driver put cyclist Al Bastidas in a coma in 2002, and following his outrage at cyclist Gayle Simmonds-Posey being killed by a hit-and-run driver, Bastidas founds Be Kind to Cyclists to promote safety on the streets.  The group’s main project is to produce and distribute the ubiquitous and iconic “Please Be Kind to Cyclists” bumper sticker.  (Now that I’m driving—after 27 years car-free—I have one on my car.)  Here’s a 2018 article about the group.  In 2025 I noticed the group’s website was down, and the last Internet Archive capture was 2024. 
  

2007

Street Smarts Task Force convened.  Mayor Wynn and Lance Armstrong launch the task force composed of bike advocates, medical/health professionals, and transportation planners, to come up with ways to make non-car commuting safer and to encourage it.  In 2008 the task force presents 100 recommendations to city council, including new street markings, bike route signs, cyclist safety education, a 3-foot passing law, and a ban on cars parking in bike lanes.  Most of the recommendations make it into the city’s 2009 Bicycle Plan, but the city doesn’t officially ban cars from parking in bike lanes until 2024.  The task force grew out of the 2006 helmet law push, with cyclists pointing out that a helmet law was insulting when the city wasn’t providing a safe riding experience.  (Statesman, Bike Facilities Toolbox report, Comprehensive Final Report, original project website, analysis by one of the members)  While the task force was part of city planning, I’m counting it here in the Advocacy history because advocates pushed for this kind of thing, and because the task force was composed of people like advocates, not elected city officials or staff.

2008

City Council candidate forum.  The League of Bicycling Voters, the Yellow Bike Project, and the Austin Cycling Association hold a forum for citizens to ask questions of the candidates.  LoBV also does a formal survey of the candidates.

Web discussion forum appears.  Michael Bluejay launches a web discussion forum, which is still running to this day.

Capital City AMBUCS forms.  The group helps those with disabilities (especially children) ride bikes and trikes, including providing the equipment for them.

2009

Thursday Night Social Rides start.  They quickly replace Critical Mass as the dominant urban ride. (source for start year) 

Three-foot passing ordinance.  Austin passed a law requiring vehicles to pass cyclists no closer than 3 feet, since Texas Governor repeatedly vetoed the legislature’s attempt to enact a statewide law.  The local ordinance was passed at the behest of the citizen-led Smart Streets Task Force. (§12-1-35, Bike Texas) 

2011

The Ghisallo Cycling Initiative is founded by Christopher Stanton, providing bike safety training to kids and adults, and providing trikes for seniors to ride.

2012

League of Bicycling Voters becomes Bike Austin.  The new name is great: short, sweet, and to the point.  Though it does cause some confusion with the website you’re reading now (Bicycle Austin).

First Ciclovia.  The city’s Bike Program and Bike Texas host Austin’s first ciclovia, a temporary closing of streets to cars to provide a space space for walkers and cyclists.  The event is called “Viva Streets”, and is repeated yearly through 2015.  After a ten-year hiatus, the Ghisallo Cycling Initiative resurrects the event. (official 2012 website, Bike Texas’ 2012 announcement) 

2013

Protected bike lanes mandated.  The city council adopts the NACTO standards for safe roadway design, which calls for protected bike lanes (i.e., separated from the car lane by some kind of barrier).  While this was a government action, I’m counting it here in the advocacy section, because councilmember Chris Riley was the one who promoted the idea, and in my mind he was a bike advocate disguised as a government official.  He was car-free and pro-bike, and sought election to city council specifically so he could push for changes like this one.

2015

Bike Austin merges with the Austin Cycling Association.  The combined group uses the Bike Austin name.  Bike Austin had been transportation advocacy, and ACA had been mostly sports/rec, so it was a curious combination, but Bike Austin did continue ACA’s sports/rec rides.

2022

Bike Austin merges with Walk Austin and Vision Zero ATX to form Safe Streets ATX.  Thus ends Austin having a bike-specific general advocacy group.  Bike Austin, originally the League of Bicycling Voters, operated from 2006-22.

2024

The City officially bans parking in bike lanes.  While this was a City decision, the idea was put forth by activists on the Bicycle Advisory Council.