NEW: State Reps Bike to Work at State House

Email to a friend Permalink

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Four Rhode Island state reps hit the pavement on two wheels and biked to work at the State House as part of Bike to Work Week this week.

Representatives Arthur Handy (D-Dist. 18, Cranston), Lisa Tomasso (D-Dist. 29, Coventry, West Greenwich), Teresa Tanzi (D-Dist. 34, South Kingstown, Narragansett) and Thomas Winfield (D-Dist. 53, Smithfield, Glocester) posed with their rides before heading in to work.

Representatives Handy, Winfield and Tomasso commuted from their various locations by bike, and Representative Tanzi combined personal and public transportation to get to work from her home in Wakefield through a combination of biking and the bicycle-friendly Rhode Island Public Transit Authority bus system.

As tomorrow is officially Bike to Work Day but the Assembly doesn't meet on Friday, lawmakers are encouraging their fellow Rhode Islanders to follow their example

“Taking your bike to work is good for the environment as well as great exercise for busy people," said Chairman Handy. "But what I like about it is that it doesn’t require particular fitness or ability, or even a great deal of lifestyle flexibility. I’ve biked from meeting to meeting in a suit and in the heat or a light drizzle. If you’re traveling a longer distance, you can take advantage of RIPTA and the commuter rail, both of which allow bikes on board. Like any kind of exercise, it takes a little willpower to overcome the temptation to make excuses not to do it, but it’s so much more of a rewarding way to get to work than sitting in a car in traffic.”

“Rhode Island is blessed with a number of convenient and scenic bike paths, many safe roads for bicyclists, bike-friendly public transit and a compactness that makes bicycling to work possible for many people," said Mark Dieterich, chairman of the Rhode Island Bicycle Coalition. "It’s our hope that Bike to Work Day will introduce more Rhode Islanders to the pleasures and advantages of biking instead of driving and show them that it really is possible for them to become bicycle commuters.”