January 19:
A partnership led by PedNet, and including IDP Group, Walt's Bike Shop, Alta Planning and Design, Columbia/Boone County Health Department, and Sustain Mizzou submits a two-year proposal to the City of Columbia to develop and deliver numerous events, programs, and public relation campaigns to help effect a shift from motorized to non-motorized modes of travel. This "Promotion and Education" project would complement infrastructure development under the $25 million federal non-motorized transportation pilot program grant.
March 1-2:
PedNet Safe Routes to School Coordinator Margy Tonnies and Executive Director Ian Thomas travel to Saratoga Springs, NY to deliver a two-day "Walking School Bus Train the Trainer Workshop." For this first consulting job, PedNet's audience includes health and physical activity advocates from throughout the state of New York. The program includes a background on PedNet's program, a local walkabiliity audit, and an exercise simulating the planning of multiple walking school bus routes.
April:
With a recently received grant from Bikes Belong and local matching support from Walt's Bicycle, Fitness, and Wilderness Company, PedNet launches its youth bicycle education program, BikePro. Children aged 10-14 years practice balance and coordination, learn the rules of the road and correct positioning for different maneuvers, and complete a test on residential and collector streets. The first elementary schools to host the class are Grant, Fairview, West Boulevard, and Ridgeway schools.
May 12-19:
Fred Parry and Simon Rose, co-hosts and political sparring partners on Newstalk 1400 KFRU's The Morning Meeting, agree to agree on the benefits of active transportation even though they agree on nothing else. Simon and Fred serve as Honorary Co-Chairs of the Sixth Annual Bike, Walk and Wheel Week, and provide the funniest and most compelling marketing in the history of the event. Columbia responds with 3,450 people registering for the Challenge - an increase of 1,000 over the previous year.
October 1:
The PedNet Coalition starts work on an 18-month, $600,000 "Promotion and Education" subcontract with the City of Columbia and Vangel Marketing Communications. The primary programs funded are the Walking School Bus; Bike, Walk, and Wheel Week; Bicycle Education; and SmartTrips (a targeted neighborhood program).
October 26:
PedNet Coalition staff, board members, and supporters including Mayor Darwin Hindman riding a tandem with a person dressed in a gorilla suit, took up residence in a new office, completing the move entirely by bicycle and walking. Office furniture, boxes of t-shirts and books, and a four-drawer filing cabinet were among the items transported an average distance of three miles, as five PedNet staff moved from their home offices in different parts of Columbia to the new, centralized PedNet Project office at 101 North Seventh Street, downtown.
November 28:
Mike Vangel of Vangel Marketing Communications announces "GetAbout Columbia," a new branding for the federal non-motorized transportation pilot program, replacing "The PedNet Project."
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