Annual Report 2023

Dear WABA Supporter,

I love serving as executive director at the Washington Area Bicyclist Association. You make this organization possible, and by doing so, you make this region so much better for bicycling. Thank you. 

2023 was a year of expansion for WABA. Because of you, we had full time organizers in Virginia, DC, and Maryland (for the first time in WABA’s 50 year history)! They are ensuring bicyclists have safer places to bike and winning policies that keep everyone safe on our roads. For example: 

• DC built 7.8 new miles of protected bike lanes in 2023—including long-awaited and excellent facilities on 9th Street NW and C Street NE, and 5 miles of new trails, including the Metropolitan Branch Trail extension to Fort Totten. 
  
• In Maryland, our education and advocacy programs are growing. For the first time, WABA is delivering classes for adults and children to Prince George’s County. Our collaborations with neighbors, partnerships with community groups, and relationships with legislators  there and in Montgomery County will lead, longterm, to safer streets in Maryland.
  
• Last year, in Virginia, we amplified the voices of residents, advocates and allies, pushing for more collaboration and coordination between jurisdictions. We made great strides towards achieving Vision Zero, especially in Alexandria—which had no traffic fatalities in 2023.

Today, we have 30 full time staff at WABA activating people of all ages across the region. In 2023, your generous support enabled us to relaunch the long-beloved community programs of Gearin’ Up Bicycles.  Already in 2024, we have offered job training and Earn A Bike to more than 20 DC youth—and thanks to you, we plan to relaunch Gearin’ Up’s community bike shop in a new location. 

We rolled into 2024 with the Capital Trails Network more than halfway done! When the network is complete, nearly four million Washington-area residents will live in close proximity to a trail—meaning easy access to an equitable, sustainable transportation system. At the end of 2023, the  network had 515.6 completed trail miles—51% of the total of 1,006.5 existing and planned trail miles. Together, we are making incredible progress toward putting a world class trails system in our region’s backyards. 

Thank you for your support, and for sharing the vision of a region where biking, walking, and transit are the best ways to get around. As you’re reading this report and reveling in how far our region has come, remember: you make it possible. 

With deep appreciation,

Elizabeth Kiker
Executive Director

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In this report

• WABA in Action
• Counting Butts on Bikes
• Safer Streets = Better Biking
• Happy Trails
• Our People
• Financials

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DC Bike Ambassadors 

The last time you dipped a toe into a new hobby or activity, it helped to have a role model and friendly face to answer questions, right? WABA’s full time DC Bike Ambassador Coordinator and team of volunteers serve as bike-loving, conversation-starting mobile information dispensers, proudly making bicycling more approachable to District residents. They answer questions, provide resources, and teach skills—joyfully encouraging those who are interested but concerned about getting around by bike to give it a try.  In 2023, Bike Ambassadors a total of 77 bike light giveaways, youth bike rides, pop-up fix-a-flat clinics, and community outreach events. 

Trail Rangers

We went on a Tour de Trails!  2023 marked the 10th year of the DC Trail Rangers program, which helps make  DC’s trails welcoming, inclusive, frequently used, and in a state of good repair.  The celebratory “Tour de Trails” brought the celebration to four trails: Marvin Gaye Trail Anacostia River Trail, the  Metropolitan Branch Trail, and Oxon Run Trail—and turned these trails into even more of a party than usual.  It wasn’t all a party, though: DC Trail Rangers collected over 1500 bags of glass and trash from the trails, pruned over 1200 trees, and met 3700 trail users over the course of the year. 

Biking for Good

In partnership with Food Rescue DC, WABA trained bicyclists to rescue hundreds of pounds of food that would otherwise have been thrown away. Bicyclists made 170 food rescue trips in 2023. 

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In classes!

• 689 adults and children learned to ride bikes with WABA in 2023.
• 1039 individuals joined our 88 classes, webinars, trainings, and events.
• 12 Bike Week programs hosted in DC Public Schools reached 1368 youth.

Bike to Work Day!

In 2023, 14,075 bicyclists rode to work on Bike to Work Day—including 4995 first-time riders.

On the weekends! 

Over 1800 registrants joined WABA’s three beloved annual rides: our signature 50 States, springtime’s Bloom Ride, and the fall Cider Ride.

Riding to school!

Last fall, WABA had our first ever bike bus training with families from Mundo Verde Calle Ocho School. Now, the school has 60 families biking to school together each Friday.

On Bikeshare! 

More people than ever are riding bikes! The regional Capital Bikeshare program saw more than 4.4 million trips in 2023, the highest ridership year in the system’s 13-year history. 

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What we’ve won

PBLs: Protected bike lanes on 9th St NW and 8th St NE now fill critical gaps in DC’s network of bike lanes and trails.

Traffic Calming: Traffic on Carroll Avenue in Silver Spring, MD is moving slower—a key part of building streets that prioritize people over cars. 

Old Georgetown Road: The road diet and separated, buffered bike lanes on Old Georgetown Road, completed in December 2022, have made a real, measurable difference to safety. Maryland State Highway Administration reported that while there were four injury crashes and one fatal crash on this corridor in 2022, there were zero multimodal injury or fatal crashes during the same four months in 2023. All that for just a short 60 seconds increase to northbound peak travel times and decreased southbound travel times.

Works in progress

With your support, WABA organized over 2000 individuals to fight for safe streets improvements including:

• Little Falls Parkway Road Diet and Linear Park in Montgomery County 
• Protected bike lanes on Q and R Streets in DC
• The Crystal City Bike Network and safer intersections in Virginia.

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Together with our partners in the Capital Trails Coalition, WABA is coordinating across jurisdictions and connecting the dots that will lead to a completed network. In 2023, we:

• Cut the ribbon on the new 66 Parallel Trail. This trail segment is already working its magic, connecting Dunn Loring to Centreville in Fairfax County to two Metro stations. It’s also a sign of things to come, heralding the future of a car-free route along I-66.
• Saw the Rhode Island Avenue Trolley Trail to completion—creating a safe trail route to and from College Park by bike.
• Won a more bicyclist- and pedestrian-friendly design for Long Bridge, a glorious, walkable, bikeable link between Arlington and the DC waterfront.

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Contributors

We are deeply grateful to these generous donors for making our work possible through their support, as well as others who have chosen to remain anonymous.

Board of Directors 2023

Emeritus Council

WABA’s Emeritus Council is selected from former WABA board members or employees who served with distinction and excellence. This advisory body invests in and supports WABA by providing strategic advice and perspective, drawing on their institutional and regional knowledge.

Staff

Year-end 2023 

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