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Addressing Questions and Misconceptions: A Reconnect Rochester Tabling FAQ

At Reconnect Rochester we love getting out into the community to talk about our work. This summer we gave presentations, tabled all over Monroe County, and held hundreds of conversations about mobility with supporters, skeptics, and everything in between. Among the skeptics there were a few topics that came up so often we thought it would be helpful to list them out in a blog post along with our perspective.

People on bicycles make everyone less safe.

When a cyclist is riding recklessly they are overwhelmingly just a danger to themselves. Yet the 47 deaths and more than 5,000 injuries that happen on our streets every year in Monroe County always involve cars. It is all of our responsibility to keep each other safe, but drivers have a bigger responsibility given their capacity to do harm to people and property. This is why we advocate for and implement complete streets designs on our roadways to slow down cars.

Bicycle education is a cornerstone of our work at Reconnect Rochester via our On Bike Smart Cycling Classes, Bike Education Programs, and Our Weekly Rides. Many school districts do not provide bike safety classes despite the state requirements. This leads to many kids who don’t learn the safe and legal way to ride. We aim to teach riders how to safely interact with traffic and be predictable in order to make all of us safer. A study found that nearly every road user will admit to breaking the law, though with cyclists it is often to keep themselves safe while drivers will be more likely to break the law to save time.

RTS isn’t safe.

There are millions of RTS bus trips every year in Monroe County. Less than a half percent of reported crimes take place on an RTS bus or at the Transit Center. As Misha Manjuran Oberoi wrote recently for the Democrat and Chronicle, “that’s fewer than the number of crimes reported at both schools, hospitals, bars and more.”

If risk factor is your main concern, you’re much more likely to be involved in one of the 14,000+ vehicle crashes that happen every year than you are to be in danger on the RTS buses. RTS is a great community resource and we encourage everyone to try to incorporate it into their lives when possible. The more of us who use RTS, the more it will be prioritized in transportation funding which will improve frequency and make it a more convenient option.

What about people with disabilities? How are they supposed to get around without a car?

There are many disabilities that make biking or taking the bus challenging or even impossible. At the same time, many people have disabilities that prevent them from driving but still allow them to live independently. We want to ensure that anyone who cannot drive (or anyone who just doesn’t want to) is able to move freely throughout our community. Our board member, Steve Roll, shared a powerful story about this in a blog post. After a seizure left him unable to drive for six months, biking and public transit became essential tools for maintaining his independence.

Furthermore, we have encountered many people in wheelchairs who appreciate our focus on safe streets. Our current car-centric infrastructure that relegates pedestrians to cramped sidewalks with heaved segments and poorly placed curb cuts is challenging for anyone to navigate. It is especially difficult if you are vision impaired, use a walker or rollator, or are in a wheelchair. We actually had someone put one of our Bicycle License Plates on the back of his wheelchair so he could feel safer when he is somewhere without a sidewalk (which, sadly, is true for too many of our roads). And—disabled or not—parents pushing strollers encounter the very same struggles! When we design streets for pedestrians, everyone benefits.

Why can’t you help me get a protected bike lane on my street? It’s just one street!

Many roads fall under different jurisdictions and require approval at the county or even state level to change.  We encourage you to sign up for our Mobility Action Alerts to keep you informed on upcoming street projects and receive talking points to advocate for safe streets. We really need support at public meetings! This is where most of the changes happen. 

Lastly, while protected bike lanes are great, there isn’t always space for them without drastic redesigns which aren’t always a viable option. Check out our ROC Easy Bike Map and utilize Rochester’s Bicycle Boulevard network when looking for low stress bike routes that minimize your interaction with cars.

You need to control those Veo e-scooters and you need to get them out of the middle of the sidewalk.

We support expanding transportation options for everyone, and Veo is a great choice for short trips around the city. You can grab one, ride to your destination, park it, and move on with your day unencumbered. More mobility options mean more freedom. We showcase Veo to educate people on their mobility options but we aren’t affiliated with the company and have no ability to modify their system.

Unfortunately we agree there are too many unsafe behaviors on Veo e-scooters, we have been advocating to the city and Veo to require safety education in their onboarding.

We also advise users to follow Veo’s parking rules which means out of pedestrian walkways with the kickstand engaged. We have encouraged Veo to go to a model which prevents users from parking in the middle of the sidewalk.

What’s the point of bike lanes if no one bikes in the winter?

Winter cycling is easier and more common than you may realize. Our Cycling Manager Jesse Peers wrote a great blog post about this. We encourage you to read it and watch our Winter Edition of Rochester Street Films to learn more!

No one is making you drive! Stop trying to make things harder for drivers just trying to get around.

It is worth noting that we are not anti-car. Cars are an effective tool for the right job but not every trip for every individual. Our work is focused on ensuring there are options for Monroe County residents beyond driving. Transportation options mean freedom. Freedom to choose the way you move through your day and shape the life you want to live. We deserve a transportation system with safe, connected bike routes, frequent bus service, AND roads that work for those who choose to drive.

Many people are not aware of the amount of subsidies that go into road construction and maintenance as well as gas prices; not to mention the amount of valuable public space we have ceded to storing private vehicles in the form of ample free parking. Our institutions do a lot to encourage driving and very little to encourage other modes of transportation despite the evidence that it’s cheaper to maintain road infrastructure and can improve congestion.

We are not necessarily trying to make things harder for drivers. We are pushing our leaders to consider options beyond the car when designing our communities going forward. The fact that many neighborhoods don’t have sidewalks, many roads don’t have bike lanes, and our buses only run once an hour on weekends make alternatives to driving very challenging for the 26% of city households and 12% of county households without access to a personal vehicle. When we make it easier to get around without a car, we can remove congestion, reduce collisions, and make travel easier for everyone including drivers.

You only care about bikes. What about us bus riders?

Reconnect Rochester is a multimodal advocacy organization – we have members who ride the bus every day. Transit is a big part of Reconnect’s history, including the ROC Transit Day celebration and a lot of advocacy around Reimagine RTS. We are involved in the city’s bus stop improvement project to improve amenities at hundreds of bus stops around the city. This summer we rallied RTS on-demand riders to push back on the service changes. Regrettably we were largely unsuccessful, but we will continue to advocate for better service and amenities for RTS riders at every opportunity.

A lot of transit advocacy is directed to the state and federal government so that they fund our system. On a state level our Voices of Transit program (email us at info@reconnectrochester.org if you want to participate!) tells the human stories of RTS riders to our legislators to encourage transit funding beyond car infrastructure. We are part of the New Yorkers for Transportation Equity statewide coalition, advocating for increased transit funding to improve RTS bus frequency and coverage.

We hope these answers shed light on any questions you may have about Reconnect Rochester and our work. We welcome community voice and dialogue and it’s important to us that we continue to push for change that benefits all of us! If you like what we do, we encourage you to subscribe to our email list, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or Bluesky, attend one of our engagement breakfast events, and donate to support the cause!

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Fall 2025 Advocacy Updates

Hello Reconnect Advocates! We’re entering December with a renewed energy to start planning our 2026 activities at Reconnect Rochester and reflecting on our 2025 work. We’ve heard from you that you’d like more frequent updates about the issues we asked you to advocate on. Below are some happenings from the summer and early fall around key issues that Reconnect is following:

Rochester Intermodal Station Phase II Project to add bus amenities

It’s been about 18 months since your advocacy led to Rochester being awarded $18 million in the state budget to build the bus station addition to the current train station. The project is somewhat complicated – Amtrak owns the facility, but NYSDOT built it originally and NYSDOT was given the funds. At the same time, the city is undertaking a massive Inner Loop North project across the street from the facility with a lot of changes planned to the road network. We have been in touch with Amtrak & NYSDOT to urge the kickoff of this project and to keep local stakeholders involved in the planning process so we can fully realize the vision of the intermodal station. In the meantime, we are also working with the bus companies to explore ways to improve the experience of waiting for the bus in Rochester. We successfully advocated for the city to install a simmie seat and we’re trying to get additional seating at the stop.

Keep Us Safe on State Roads Campaign

You showed up to ride to Parcel 5 to call on New York State officials to keep us safe on state roads and since then we’ve been busy continuing this advocacy. For those of you who couldn’t attend, the NYS Department of Transportation sent this statement for us to read at the event, which unfortunately didn’t give them the opportunity to see the mass of cyclists who came out to push for safer state roads. Since the event, 311 people signed a letter calling on start officials to invest in safe state road infrastructure for people walking and biking and taking transit! Behind the scenes, we’ve continued to advocate for multimodal changes to Empire Boulevard, Monroe Avenue, West Henrietta Rd. and Lake Avenue. Brighton’s Town Supervisor highlighted the strong prospect that Monroe Avenue would get a road diet, and with the right lane configuration, we could even get 5’ bike lanes on both sides. We need to keep encouraging this kind of thinking for the future.

ROC Vision Zero and 25 MPH

ROC Vision Zero work has really started to get off the ground this autumn, with public engagement planned early in the new year on the automated enforcement and speed limit changes proposed in the plan. Reconnect Rochester and the Healthi Kids Coalition have consistently advocated for speed limit reductions because that policy change alone have shown immediate safety improvements across jurisdictions. The City of Rochester joined other school districts in Monroe County by implementing Bus Patrol stop-arm cameras on school buses, but there are more opportunities to ensure that drivers are held accountable for unsafe driving. Our input is guided by the Vision Zero Network’s resource called Fair Warnings, a systematic review of safety camera programs to ensure equity in implementing the program for residents. The city deployed a seasonal protected bike lane on West Main St. this year and is still putting together a protected bike lane demonstration program alongside other safety programs that will enhance active transportation and winter maintenance. 

The broader effort around 25 MPH communities applies to all the suburban towns and villages that are eligible to lower their speed limits to 25 MPH on locally-controlled roads. GTC held a regional traffic safety summit during which we exposed local leaders to the 25 MPH local law and examples in our own region that have made the switch. If you live in a suburban town or village, reach out to your decision makers to tell them you support this! 

RTS Service and Budget Crisis

In June, we shared our opposition to many of the changes that RTS was implementing to their OnDemand service and we continue to dialogue with RTS on some of their choices for that service, in particular the virtual stops. We’re concerned these changes won’t improve the rider experience, and the suburbs would probably be better served by restoring some kind of fixed route service. As we move into the new year, please reach out and let us know your thoughts about bus service in the suburbs. 

In the meantime, we are collaborating with RTS and the New York Public Transit Association (NYPTA) to try to spur more investment in public transit. Transit fuels economic activity and it returns many times over what it takes from the state. As a recent Streetsblog article highlighted, without renewed investments upstate, we’re going to be facing a crisis that could lead to service cuts.

Land Use and Zoning

One of the most common questions I’ve been asked lately is when will the Rochester Zoning Alignment Project be released back to the public. We’re not really sure, timelines keep getting delayed. The public probably won’t get to comment on it again formally before the City Council vote, but again that could change. We’ve been advocating for denser, mixed use zoning along transit corridors and eliminating parking minimums to spur housing in-fill development. The conversation really took off this year after the Sprawl Effect, including several workshops throughout the year on more inclusive zoning policies, blog posts from a Brighton Town Board member about eliminating parking minimums, and lots of conversations about the spiky analysis that Urban3 does. We would still love to get an Urban3 analysis for Monroe County and will keep working on finding funding for that in 2026. 

Federal Headwinds – Transportation Reauthorization

Finally, federal headwinds have continued to be strong all year, but they’re about to heat up for transportation. The surface transportation bill is up for reauthorization and will have a huge impact on local projects. Genesee St, for example, was reconstructed this past year with funds from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the current transportation bill. Just over the past 3 weeks, we’ve heard reports from the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee that “walking and biking infrastructure” are not important federal priorities and there was a threat (later backtracked) to zero out public transportation funding. The Chair, Rep. Graves (R-Mo) gave an interview in which he said:

It’s going to be a traditional highway bill. That means building roads and bridges, laying asphalt, pouring concrete. We’re not going to be spending money on murals and train stations or bike paths or walking paths. We’re going to spend money on traditional infrastructure — that’s roads and bridges.

This process will keep going well into next year and there are sure to be twists and turns. To stay updated, please subscribe to Mobility Action Alerts, join the League of American Bicyclists Action list and watch for updates from Streetsblog USA.

Quick Hits

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World Day of Remembrance

Thank you to all who joined us for the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims on Sunday, November 16th. Together we remembered those we have lost, support victims and their families, and discuss ways to act to improve road safety. We also launched an updated Monroe County Crash Map to identify trends regarding bike and pedestrian crashes on our local streets.

The World Day of Remembrance is an international effort to remember, support and act to prevent car crashes, injuries and fatalities. Every year, millions more road victims are added to the current toll of over 50 million killed and hundreds of millions injured since the first road death. As roadway deaths remain at crisis levels, with 40,990 lives lost in U.S. traffic crashes in 2023 and more than 2.7 million people sent to emergency rooms, WDoR offers a powerful chance to raise public awareness and demand real solutions. The U.S. continues to have the highest rate of traffic deaths among 27 high-income countries, underscoring the urgent need for systemic change and a reminder that safer streets are possible.

Our Advocacy Ask for 2025:

Safe Speeds Save Lives and lowering speed limits can, alone without any other intervention, reduce crashes and improve survivability. Therefore we are advocating for the City of Rochester and towns and villages in Monroe County to adopt 25 MPH area speed limits on roads under their control before the end of 2026.

QUESTIONS?

Contact Cody Donahue at Cody@ReconnectRochester.org or 585.484.1523

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What is NYS Doing to Keep Cyclists Safe on State Roads?

Join Us on Parcel 5, Friday, Aug 22 at 5:30 PM to Find Out!

Join us for a rally on Parcel 5 at 5:30 PM on Friday, Aug 22 to call on New York State to “Keep Cyclists Safe on State Roads!” There’s an optional group ride from Genesee Valley Park Sports Complex (131 Elmwood) that leaves promptly at 5 pm. Pre-registration encouraged!

Register

Some Background:

During Reconnect Rochester’s Ride for the Spine bike rally in 2024, one of our partners at City Hall made a passing remark that left a lasting impression: “It’s great so many cyclists turned out to hear from the Mayor, the County Executive and Congressman Morelle, but where’s New York State? They have authority over so much of this.” 

Of course, they were right: The New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT)’s decision-making authority over a road project can make or break bike infrastructure choices that any local authority – whether it be the City, Towns, Villages or the County – wants to implement. Projects in our region that are building better bike infrastructure use a combination of federal, state and local funding, and the requirements – and often constraints – imposed by these funding streams dictate what is considered as feasible in the design process. While engineering guides from the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD), to the AASHTO and NACTO bike guides have made momentous leaps forward, design standards used by traffic engineers at all levels of government take far too much time to adopt and implement that progressive guidance.

NYSDOT’s decision-making authority over a road project can make or break bike infrastructure choices that any local authority wants to implement.

For suburban towns and villages, the hand of NYSDOT is even heavier: state roads built before the interstate highway system designed to move freight or serve as highway alternatives are now the main streets of local communities. Unfortunately, Smart Growth America’s Dangerous by Design report in 2024 cited that across the U.S., nearly two-thirds of traffic deaths in metro areas happen on state-owned roads—often fast-moving arterials that weren’t designed for people walking, biking, catching the bus, or simply crossing the street to enjoy a coffee or get home. The burden of mortality isn’t evenly spread either: Black and Native Americans, older adults, and people walking in low-income communities die at higher rates and face higher levels of risk of becoming victims of road violence when compared to all Americans.

Register

To cite a recent Vision Zero Network analysis, state roads “serve very different purposes today – including local traffic, people walking and biking, school buses and delivery vans – without having been redesigned for these uses.” It is urgent for communities, therefore, that New York State officials, including planners, traffic engineers, municipal public works heads, become more responsive to the way local communities are growing and the ways the roads are used today.

That’s why this year, Reconnect Rochester is asking NYSDOT and other state leaders to speak to us about what they are doing to keep cyclists safe and build the all-ages/all abilities bike infrastructure on all roads, but especially on the state roads that are often the Main Streets of our county’s towns and villages.  We see some glimmers of a culture shift , but it will take much more to turn such a large ship. Good intentions are present throughout the Draft NYSDOT 2050 Strategic Master Plan, signs of newly prioritizing active transportation are present in the agency’s move to update a two-decade old walk/bike plan. Now is the time to reiterate to New York State: safety for your most vulnerable people using the road is safety for everyone, including drivers!

But these intentions aren’t yet fully realized: A recent Brookings Institution analysis concluded that NYSDOT is among the lowest-ranked state DOTs in the United States when measured on evidence that it is shifting its mandate from car-centric infrastructure to building and maintaining multimodal transportation systems that serve all users and responds to environmental change. As articulated in our New York Safe Streets Coalition feedback on the 2050 plan, NYSDOT can show its seriousness about its strategic intentions through more transparency, funding allocations to public and active transportation, and public engagement with local communities.

What’s at stake for Monroe County’s cyclists of all ages and abilities:

Register

To illustrate what’s at stake for cyclists in our community, let’s look at the map. Two years ago, Monroe County hired Toole Design to craft the County’s first Active Transportation Plan. It was very high level  and created a common vision as a starting point for discussion. The question it asked: If there was an ideal countywide bike network someday that connected towns & villages, what lines on a map would make most sense to invest in? The map below is the result.

The red circled roads are owned & maintained by NYSDOT. Thus, if our county is ever going to be bikeable (for more than just the brave and bold), NYSDOT will need to modernize the way they design and maintain roads to prioritize complete streets elements and build with the safety for all users in mind. Monroe County is working on an implementation plan for the CATP (work item 8756) that will make more specific recommendations, and we’ll let you know when there’s a chance to give public input.

Image of Lake Ave

While the City of Rochester has a lot of control over how it designs its roads, NYSDOT owns and operates portions of the most dangerous road in the city and New York State: Lake Avenue. The City has recognized the unacceptable level of road safety problems on Lake Avenue, and has put on the table the idea of reengineering Lake Avenue to be a multimodal corridor equipped with continuous bike infrastructure and bus rapid transit through the ROC Vision Zero initiative. As recent events confirm, NYSDOT’s cooperation on making Lake Avenue a safety corridor is more urgent than ever. 

A local sign of culture shift toward accommodating complete streets and active transportation is NYSDOT Region 4’s project on Route 204 – Brooks Avenue in the Town of Gates, which coincides with New York State Bike Route 5. Reconnect Rochester’s input to the project last year highlighted the opportunity to connect the City of Rochester, the Airport, Gates employers and commercial center on 33A with multimodal investments on this corridor. For this project, NYSDOT coordinated with the Town of Gates and local business partners to close sidewalk gaps, and improve bus shelters. Through a combination of shoulder widening and restriping, the project will provide 5’ minimum shoulder width through corridor (with the exception of the railroad underpass area – which is outside of the NYSDOT jurisdiction) and the installation of a refuge island and other enhancements to provide for a crossing of Rt 204 at the Canal Trail. This is the kind of attention to multimodal needs that we’d like to see on every project. 

What can you do?

The most impactful thing you can do this month is to show up to the rally on Friday, Aug 22 at 5:30 PM at Parcel 5! Even if you can’t bike that day, walk down to the Parcel for the rally! You can also sign up for our Mobility Action Alerts to learn about upcoming state advocacy opportunities in 2025-2026!

What can New York State do?

  • Adopt a “complete streets” design policy for all state road projects if the service life of such resurfacing, maintenance or pavement recycling project is at least ten years. 
  • Implement dedicated bike facilities, sidewalks, enhanced pedestrian crossings, traffic calming or road diets (where appropriate) to create safer places for ALL users of the road.
  • Build safe cycling infrastructure on Empire Boulevard (Penfield) and Monroe Avenue and West Henrietta Road (Brighton) during upcoming road projects!
  • Build a safer, multimodal Lake Avenue as part of ROC Vision Zero!
  • Create a fully connected network of bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure in Monroe County working with towns, villages, the City of Rochester, Monroe County and residents. Improve connectivity across municipal boundaries, between neighborhoods, jobs, and safe routes to schools.
  • Allocate more funding to active transportation enhancements on all road projects.
  • Advocate to the federal government to ensure that the surface transportation reauthorization includes bike infrastructure funding explicitly. 
Image of Empire Blvd
Image of Monroe Ave
Image of W Henrietta Rd

NYSDOT has an important strategic choice to make: Do we maintain the roads and bridges we have and add safety for all users, or do we spend our limited resources expanding highway capacity to save drivers a few minutes of time? Reconnect for one would like to see our local roads maintained and more bike lanes, sidewalks and transit stops added. We know that adding lanes induces new demand for car trips at a time when climate action demands we reduce our vehicle miles traveled, especially for short daily trips that are most appropriate for walking, biking or transit. Let’s make it safer for more cyclists to use state roads!

Take Action!

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“Keep Us Safe on State Roads” Ride & Rally August 22nd 2025

THANK YOU to all who joined us on August 22nd, at 5:30PM at Parcel 5 outside Senator Jeremy Cooney’s office. We were proud to send a strong message to New York State Department of Transportation that we need safer infrastructure on state controlled roads such as W. Henrietta Rd, Monroe Ave, Lake Ave, and Empire Boulevard.

The Monroe County Active Transportation Plan and the City of Rochester Active Transportation Plan were completed in a coordinated fashion with commitments to building safe walking, biking, and transit facilities that cater to people of all ages and all abilities. Yet in order to extend our infrastructure into Monroe County suburbs and beyond, we will need to address the many roads under NYSDOT jurisdiction that are included.

We are grateful for the 150 cyclists who attended 2024’s bike ride and rally at City Hall aimed at drawing more attention to the issue of the scattered and disconnected nature of bike investments so far and the need to change tacks, concentrating on attaining seamless and protected central axes of the envisioned Bike Spine Network in the near term.

This year, we have invited NYSDOT to tell us first-hand, “what is New York State doing to protect cyclists on state roads?” Despite the many Bike Resources we offer to encourage our community to ride, we can’t make up for the almost complete lack of dedicated, on-road bicycle infrastructure outside of the City of Rochester. According to the Federal Highway Administration, for about 60% of people who might otherwise ride their bike, these conditions discourage them from even trying to bike to work, to school or to the grocery store. This is especially true for women, children and the elderly. 

WHAT DO WE WANT NEW YORK STATE TO DO?

  • Adopt a “complete streets” design policy for state roads and build infrastructure during regular maintenance projects. Implement dedicated bike facilities, sidewalks, enhanced pedestrian crossings, traffic calming or road diets (where appropriate) to create safer places for ALL users of the road.
  • Build safe cycling infrastructure on Empire Boulevard (Penfield) and Monroe Avenue and West Henrietta Road (Brighton) during upcoming road projects!
  • Build a safer, multimodal Lake Avenue as part of ROC Vision Zero!
  • Create a fully connected network of bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure in Monroe County working with towns, villages, the City of Rochester, Monroe County and residents. Improve connectivity across municipal boundaries, between neighborhoods, commercial centers, and transit hubs.
  • Allocate more funding to active transportation enhancements on all road projects.

QUESTIONS?

Contact Cody Donahue at Cody@ReconnectRochester.org or 585.484.1523

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The ROC ‘n Roll

Thank you to all who joined our 4th Annual ROC ‘n Roll fundraising ride on Sunday, June 1st, 2025! Your support fuels Reconnect Rochester’s work to champion transportation choices in Monroe County.

Save the date for our 5th ROC ‘n Roll on Sunday, May 31st, 2026!

The ROC ‘n Roll is our annual fundraising bike ride. We host two different ride options followed by an after party with food, live music, and raffle prizes. The 8-mile ride is a family-friendly, casual route that features the traffic-free Riverway Trail. The 30-mile ride is a mix of bike paths, bike lanes, and bike boulevards — and will probably take you places you’ve never seen in Rochester on a bike! Pick the ride that best fits with your riding style or you can attend just the after party.

“I loved street riding in a way that felt safe. It was so fun to experience our gorgeous city from that vantage.”

“Riding a type of ride I never do. It was very eye-opening to see all the cycling infrastructure in the city. I had no clue.”

Meet us at Rohrbach Brewing Company’s Beer Hall on Railroad Street, where this year’s ROC ‘n Roll will begin and end. The ride is rain or shine but the after party will be inside if it rains.

The 8-mile ride is a family-friendly, casual route that features the traffic-free Riverway Trail. Check-in starts at 10:00 AM. Kickstands up at 10:30 AM.

The 30-mile ride is a mix of bike paths, bike lanes, and bike boulevards — and will probably take you places you’ve never seen in Rochester on a bike! Check-in starts at 8:30 AM. Kickstands up at 9:00 AM.

Registration-Walk Up Registration Available

  • $50 – Pre-registration
  • $60 – Day of registration (on 6/1)
  • Kids under 18 only $25

Includes after party admission (1 plate of food + your first drink/beer).

Snacks and water provided for riders pre- and post-ride, plus long route rest stop(s).

After Party!

Join us at ROC ‘n Roll event headquarters afterwards to eat, drink, and hang out!  Enjoy live music from Spring Drive, play some yard games, and check out our raffle. Admission to the after party is included in rider registration. Non-riders can grab a ticket for just the after party via the registration button below. After party will be inside if it rains. All are welcome! 

  • 12:00-2:00pm at Rohrbach’s
  • $25 – Includes 1 plate of food + your first drink/beer
  • Kids admitted free
  • (Bike ride participants do not have to buy a separate ticket for the after party – it’s already included!)

Party food options: burgers, hot dogs, veggie burgers, chips, fresh fruit, and other sides. 

Donate to Support

Can’t make this event, but still want to support the cause?

We’ll gratefully accept a donation to let us know you’ll be with us in spirit! Visit the registration page to make an event donation.

Seeking Sponsors & Raffle Donations

Are you a business or organization interested in supporting our event? By partnering with Reconnect Rochester, you’ll join the movement for mobility equity, accessible recreation, sustainability, and safe streets. View sponsorship opportunities ranging from $500 – $10,000.

We also welcome in-kind donations for our RAFFLE. Bonus points if it’s Rochester or bike-themed! Contact jenna@ReconnectRochester.org if you’d like to make an item donation.

Thanks to our generous sponsors & donors!

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Rochester wants to get more residents on bikes

by Jesse Peers, cycling coordinator at Reconnect Rochester

“The bicycle is in many ways the easiest solution to a multitude of problems.” – Anna Brones in Hello, Bicycle

As a bicycle instructor, I love teaching bike classes and presentations in our area. (If you want to book a lunch n’ learn presentation for your workplace, library or community group, let me know at cycling@reconnectrochester.org). Before going in depth on any subject, I spend a few slides at the beginning highlighting the benefits of biking. It’s not enough just to tell people how to bike safely. You have to inspire them to bike in the first place. There are powerful financial, health and environmental benefits that accrue from biking. And although it only takes one of these reasons to get on a bike, you and society will benefit in a variety of ways for doing so.

My hope with this blog is not only to “preach the cycling gospel,” but to familiarize readers with Rochester’s goals and policies, particularly its groundbreaking Rochester 2034 Plan. As I’ve gravitated towards bike advocacy in recent years, I was pleased to discover that my hometown also sees the benefits of getting more citizens on bikes. The City of Rochester has many plans in motion to better our city and many of those plans incorporate getting more people on bikes.

Choice, equity & “complete streets”

In line with New York State, Rochester adopted its own Complete Streets Policy in 2011, in which it “recognizes that our streets should accommodate a wide range of transportation modes…Our streets are a reflection of our community…” According to the most recent US Census Bureau American Community Survey five-year estimates (2017), 25.3% of all households in the City of Rochester do not have access to a private vehicle. In some neighborhoods like JOSANA, over 46% of households do not own automobiles (Source: JOSANA Study). 

The City defines a complete street as one that “accommodates all users, including pedestrians, bicyclists, transit users and persons with disabilities.” Moreover the recent 2034 Plan expresses clear concern for “an overly car-dependent culture” and acknowledges that residents want choice when it comes to transportation.  “The City’s statement of support for these values helps set the bike community up to advocate for specific projects and improvements.

‘Justicia Urbana’ by Fabian Todorovic

Household & Society Finances

Each fall, the American Automobile Association (AAA) puts out an updated estimate of the average annual cost of car ownership. As anyone who’s ever owned a car knows, this cost goes beyond just paying for the vehicle itself: interest, insurance, gas, maintenance, registration and depreciation add up considerably. Though we can expect Rochesterians to spend less than the average ($9,282 a year for a new car), in a city where the per capita income is well below the national average, $6,000 or more a year to spend on a car is too big a piece of the household financial pie. By biking for some trips, Rochesterians can save serious money.

In addition to the financial burden cars impose on households, we also need to recognize that society loses money from prioritizing and incentivizing car travel. As our friend Arian Horbovetz points out so well, every form of transportation is subsidized. No form of transportation pays for itself. It stands to reason then that municipalities, especially those with limited funds in hard times, ought to prioritize infrastructure funding for modes of travel that are available to everyone, not just those who can afford to own a personal vehicle.

“It is pure poetry that a 19th-century invention is capable of solving complicated 21st-century issues.” – Mikael Colville-Andersen in Copenhagenize

As Lynn Richards, the President & CEO of the Congress for the New Urbanism, told us last year in her Reshaping Rochester talk for the Community Design Center, downtowns with abundant, cheap parking have city halls that struggle to pay the bills. A frequent line from those administrations is “Yeah, [your idea] is great but we don’t have the money.” Vibrant downtowns use valuable urban real estate to make money, put a price on parking and incentivize other modes of travel. Next time you hear someone say good bike infrastructure is too expensive, remind them that “One mile of a protected bike lane is 100x cheaper than one mile of roadway” and that by prioritizing cars, they are prioritizing the mode too many residents can’t afford.

City documents and plans that support these values:

  • The 2034 plan asserts that “increasing the ability of residents to bike will provide residents who don’t own cars with an alternative to get to work or the store.” 
  • Rochester Bicycle Master Plan: “Improving bicycling conditions is a cost effective way of optimizing existing public infrastructure.”
  • Bike Rochester webpage: Increased disposable income can result in increased spending in the local marketplace, which would boost the local economy.
  • 2034: Vibrant mixed-use neighborhoods with strong economies “limit auto-oriented uses and design.”

Health

As Peter Walker points out in How Cycling Can Save The World, “the health incentives for cycling massively outweigh the perils…Every year about 700 Americans die on bikes, a figure that could and should be significantly lower. But over the same period at least 200,000 of their compatriots die from conditions linked to a lack of physical activity.” And don’t forget that “more Americans have died in car crashes since 2000 than in both World Wars.” 

Moderate biking “has been found to have an almost miraculous effect” on health, “in part because it is so easy to incorporate into everyday life…Cyclists don’t just get extra life years, they’re more likely to remain mobile and independent into older age.” A recent UK study found that bike commuters had a 46% lower risk of developing heart disease and a 45% lower risk of developing cancer.

City documents and plans that support these values:

  • Evaluation of Trail Entry Conditions and Recommendations for Improvements: The City of Rochester proudly promotes healthy communities and lifestyles. 
  • 2034:  Residents bicycling instead of driving incorporate exercise into their daily routine, which increases overall health.
  • 2034: The City wants to improve public health by making Rochester more walkable and bikeable
  • 2034: On-street bike networks allow residents to access to recreation, world-class trails and parks improves public health

Climate Crisis

UC Davis found that if only 14% of urban trips worldwide were taken on bikes, we’d reduce emissions enough to meet the Paris Climate Goals. This is so doable! If people used their cars for when the weather was bad, when the distances are too long and when there’s more than one occupant in the car, we’d live in a different world. If you only hopped on a bike for short solo trips in good weather, it’d make a massive difference.

By the way, any idea where the most polluted air is concentrated? Where the unhealthiest air is to breathe? It’s around our schools every morning and every afternoon. “Pick-up and drop-off times create clouds of invisible yet toxic diesel fumes” as buses idle.

City documents and plans that support these values:

  • In its Climate Action Plan, the City acknowledges the urgent need to “reduce vehicle miles traveled” along with “single occupant vehicle trips.” 
    • Transportation currently accounts for about a quarter of GHG emissions in Rochester. Policies and actions that make it easier to make trips by foot, bicycle, and transit, can help the community reduce transportation-related GHG emissions.
  • 2034: Installation of various bicycle infrastructure elements (bike lanes, protected lanes, bike boulevards, bike share system, bike parking/storage, bike maintenance stations) to encourage this cleaner, healthier mode of transportation.
  • 2034: Single-occupancy vehicles are detrimental to the environment…Motor vehicles are one of the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, alternate modes of transportation, such as walking, biking, riding the bus, or carpooling can greatly cut down on the environmental impact of traveling.
  • 2034: The more trips made by bicycle means fewer motor vehicles on the road, which decreases congestion on our streets, lowers the demand for parking, and decreases the amount of greenhouse gas emitted into the atmosphere. 
  • 2034: Bike infrastructure encourages cleaner modes of transportation
  • 2034: The more trips made by bicycle means fewer vehicles on the road, which decreases the amount of greenhouse gas emitted into the atmosphere. 
  • 2034: The City Department of Environmental Services is a bringing more green infrastructure to the city and is pursuing an aggressive plan to reduce Rochester’s carbon footprint.

Anytime we advocate for safer, more equitable streets and better bike infrastructure, we need to point to Rochester’s goals and plans and how the whole community will benefit from encouraging bicycling. And when City Hall delivers, let them know your appreciation!

Join Us!

Join us for a virtual screening of the inspirational Dutch film Why We Cycle on Thursday, September 10, 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. on Zoom. Following the film, there will be a live panel discussion with community leaders and advocates. We’ll use the film as a springboard to reflect on how we can get more Rochesterians on bikes. See event details and register at www.ReconnectRochester.org/streetfilms.

“The Dutch and their bikes are inseparable. It’s not a form of transportation, it’s a way of living.” – Holland.com guide for visiting the Netherlands

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On-Bike Smart Cycling Classes

Classes are all done for 2025. We’ll see you in 2026!

Get the confidence and skills you need to bike around our community by taking a 2.5-hour Smart Cycling class! We are excited to offer onsite bicycle tune ups during the classroom portion of the class.

Many people like the idea of biking more, but they don’t feel safe mixing it up with cars. In this class, students will learn the rules of the road and proper roadway position. We’ll examine safe cycling techniques and ways to make cycling easier and more enjoyable. The class will incorporate classroom learning, parking lot maneuvering drills and a short group ride navigating different traffic scenarios.

WHEN: September 27 (10am-12:30pm SOLD OUT)

MEETING POINT: Reconnect Rochester’s office downtown: 400 Andrews Street, Suite 100A, Rochester, NY 14604

COST:  FREE

IMPORTANT NOTES:

  • Children under 16 are required to take the class with a parent or legal guardian.
  • These classes are for folks who already know how to balance and ride a bike. For more information on private learn-to-ride classes, contact cycling@ReconnectRochester.org.
  • Participants must come with their own bike.
  • Participants must wear a helmet.
  • The class will go on rain or shine. In the event of rain, the classroom portion will be extended to cover more Smart Cycling curriculum.

QUESTIONS?

Contact Jesse Peers at jesse@ReconnectRochester.org or 585-270-1095.

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RCA at Greentopia

The Rochester Cycling Alliance (RCA) will have a presence at the Greentopia Festival on September 17 & 18, 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.  Admission to the festival is free.  Go to www.greentopiafestival.com for more information.
 
On Saturday the 17th, the RCA is organizing a self-guided Bike-the-Bridges ride to the festival fromGeneseeValleyParktoHighFalls(six miles one way).  Meet there anytime between 9:00 -10:30 a.m. and join other cyclists riding to the event. Free bicycle parking is available at the event.
 
Print ride maps off the web site and sign the ride waiver on- line; www.greentopiafestival.com/highlights/bike.
 
The RCA will also have a table at the festival site. Stop by to get some free educational cycling material, bicycle road & trails map, or just to talk about the bicycle infrastructure in theRochesterregion.
 
The Cycling Alliance is gratefully accepting volunteers to staff the table. Go to https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AjwrTZlKE2FLdGw1bmROdXpjZGV0X19JWS04ZXMyaUE&hl=en_US&pli=1#gid=0 to claim your spot or contact Rochelle Bell at rbell@monroecounty.gov.