DC Bike Ambassadors

What’s a Bike Ambassador?

The DC Bike Ambassadors are educators and enthusiasts who are working to bring better bicycling to the people of the District. Carefully selected for a love of bikes, an enthusiastic personality, a good sense of direction and effective communication skills, we are out on the streets day and night to promote bicycling in our city.

The Bike Ambassador program is a collaboration between WABA (Washington Area Bicyclist Association) and DDOT (District Department of Transportation) and is designed to promote safe cycling for fun, fitness and transportation for everyone in DC.

What does a Bike Ambassador do?

We attend community events to pass out important information, conduct free bike commuting and repair clinics, engage people on the topic of bikes and ride along wherever there are bicyclists out and about. More than ever before, bicycling is becoming an integral part of the transportation system in DC and we DC Bike Ambassadors are a key component in bringing the benefits of bicycling—reducing congestion, improving personal and environmental health, saving money, making streets safer—to a broader audience.

The goals of the DC Bike Ambassador program are:

• Getting more DC residents and visitors to try cycling for fun, fitness and transportation.
• Educating cyclists, drivers and pedestrians on the safe use of roads, sidewalks and trails.
• Reducing barriers that prevent people from cycling.
• Providing resources to make the choice to go by bike an easy and safe one.
• Modeling good behavior and conscientious road use for everyone in the city.

Wow, sounds great! I’d love to have a Bike Ambassador come to my event/festival/office/wedding!

Well, we’d love to attend! Simply send an email to dcba@waba.org describing your event and we’ll get in touch with you as soon as we can.

Please include:

• The name of your organization/company
• A description of the event
• The date and time
• A sentence or two telling us how you'd like the Bike Ambassador to fit in with your event

Just remember, the bike season is upon us, so don’t wait too long. It makes us sad to admit it, but we cannot be everywhere at once and not all event requests can be filled.

Prefer to speak to a real live Bike Ambassador? Call 202.518.0524 x211 and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.

My organization doesn't have any events coming up, but we are very interested in promoting bicycle commuting and educating our employees. Can you help?

Absolutely we can. The DC Bike Ambassador teaches a Bike Commuting Seminar that might be just what you're looking for.

The seminar is basically a short version of our popular Confident City Cycling Classes. Designed to be taught over the course of a lunch hour, the basics of safe bicycle commuting, vehicular cycling and route choice are covered. WABA literature such as our Safe Bicycling in the Washington Area, pocket bike law guides and area bike maps are available free and distributed at the seminars.

Here is our standard Bike Commuting Seminar package:

• Hour-long Bike Commuting Seminar includes safety videos and slideshow presentation

• Free literature from WABA and partner organizations about events, safety and special offers
• Free maps for all attendees of DC, Arlington & Alexandria

• $10 off a WABA membership for all attendees

• Free League of American Bicyclists Commuter Manual for all attendees

• Cost: $195

Please email dcba@waba.org or call 202.518.0524 x211 to arrange a seminar or with any questions.

How can I become a Bike Ambassador (I’ve always wanted diplomatic immunity*)?

Lucky for you, we’re actively recruiting volunteer Bike Ambassadors to represent WABA and DDOT out in the thick of it. Just email dcba@waba.org with the following information:

• Name
• Contact info
• Answers to these questions:
• Do you have your own bike?
• Can it pull a trailer?
• Are you over 18?
• What is your favorite color? (Hint: DC Bike Ambassador t-shirts are black)

If we think you’ve got what it takes, we’ll invite you to attend one of our Ambassador trainings, the first step to becoming a full-fledged Bike Ambassador.

After that, you'll be asked to sign up for one of our FREE Confident City Cycling classes and to commit to shadowing a DC Bike Ambassador at a real live event.

Then, you'll get your fancy T-shirt and you'll be able to go out and do events solo or with an all-volunteer crew.

In total, the commitment is around 4-5 hours of training to become an Ambassador. If, however, you'd like to pull the awesome Bike Ambassador trailer or help us transport stuff by bike, we ask that you also take Confident City Cycling 2, a more in-depth (but still FREE) class that takes an additional 4 hours.

Here is a schedule of upcoming classes offered by WABA.

*But you don’t get diplomatic immunity. We’re role models, after all, and you don’t need immunity if you don’t break the rules..

The Bike Ambassador program sounds fantastic, but I still have more questions.

Not a problem. Send any questions (or comments or ideas) to dcba@waba.org and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can. Thanks!

Do you have any information that I may peruse without leaving my comfy chair?
We’re actually glad you asked. Here are some links to other resources around the WABA site:

Bike Ambassadors in the News.

Bike Commuting

Safe Cycling Tips

Maps and Guides

Bikes on Transit

Bike Laws