When San Francisco bike-safety advocates Maureen Persico and Matt Brezina put together the first People Protected Bike Lane (PPBL) demonstration in 2017, who knew it would have a global impact? Marcel Moran, a researcher at New York University, just dropped People Protected Bike Lanes: Global Expansion of an Emergent Cycling Demonstration, a study that shows that it lead to more demonstrations and, more importantly, protected bike lanes getting installed in cities as far away as Europe.
"The genius of People Protected Bike Lane Demonstrations," Moran told Streetsblog, "is the very nature of the protest conveys the message of the protest." Because of that, images of the PPBLs in San Francisco were quickly picked up by mainstream media and distributed far-and-wide on social media. Advocates in other cities then copied the idea. "It happened in D.C., it happened in Chicago," said Moran. "I found reports on 55 demonstrations in 25 different cities and 11 different countries."
PPBL first took place in 2017 on San Francisco’s Golden Gate Avenue, where Persico and Brezina were joined by thirteen other participants. As PPBL demonstrations grew in number, so too did their size and notoriety; media outlets in the Bay Area began covering them, and local politicians even appeared as part of those ‘on the line,’ including members of the Board of Supervisors, and a state senator. These early iterations also began to include participants wearing matching yellow shirts, which read 'Protected Lanes Save Lives!" and/or carry signs with similar pro-safety and pro-protected bike lane messages. Within only a few months, the first PPBL took place outside of San Francisco, including internationally.
Also from the study:
PPBL represents one of the latest forms of bicycle demonstrations, joining a long history of activism that stretches back decades in both Europe and the United States. For example, Amsterdam’s transition to one of the world’s most bike-friendly cities, including expansive bicycle infrastructure and restrictions on cars, was significantly influenced by consistent protests. Indeed, Dutch cycling activists employed numerous approaches, including group rides, as well as physically obstructing cars with their bodies and mass ‘die ins’.
PPBL demonstrations often worked in getting improved bike infrastructure installed. "At the close of 2023, 32 of the 55 locations (58 percent) where PPBL took place have had protected bike lanes installed," wrote Moran in the study. He ascribed its effectiveness partially to the fact that PPBLs aren't combative. They instantly convey what the demonstration is asking for, they show bravery on the part of the participants, but they don't actually delay anybody except perhaps the minority of drivers who were attempting to park illegally on the block, he explained.
After the pandemic, however, there's been a slowdown in the number of such demonstrations. But they still crop up. "It's continuing," said Moran. "In late 2024, there was a PPBL in Denver, so we're not at the end of the story."
That's good news for advocates looking for effective ways to demand change. Or as Persico, one of the inventors of the demonstration, put it in an email to Streetsblog: "Whooo Hooo!!"
To read the study, click here.
