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The League still the Bike-Ed program has stumbled badly (see pages about the Bike-Ed program). The League's thin magazine appears four times a year --it used to appear 9 times a year.

The League has completely dropped support for the nationwide network of volunteers who provided informational and advocacy services. This network multiplied the League's effectiveness enormously, and provided services which could be provided in no other way.

Services which have vanished

In the past, the League offered member services, coordinated through a network of volunteers throughout the country. Here are some of the outreach services have been dropped:

• State Legislative Representatives, who tracked state legislation and lobbied on behalf of the League

• Area Directors -- League members who represented the League to bicycle clubs and members..

• Touring Information Directors -- volunteers who assisted other members in planning bicycle tours in their area

• Hospitality homes -- League members who offered a place to stay to other League members on tour.

• Chapter affiliate clubs: clubs which paid dues in a lump sum, so all club members were also League members. Some chapter affiliate clubs remain, but the League no longer pursues this program.

The volunteer lists suddenly disappeared from the League's annual Almanac issue a few years ago.

Why has this happened?

Why has the League lost its national outreach? 

• Partly,  because of financial difficulties. Some services had to be curtailed to restore the League to solvency. This was particularly true of the size and number of issues of the magazine. But the League has, to its credit, recovered from its financial crisis, and can now look ahead.

• Another explanation I have heard is that one program or another would be running well. Then the person running the program would be replaced with someone who could not do the job as well, the program would falter, and it would be dropped.

• A third explanation that I have heard is concern by League officers and the Board that some volunteers may take positions that do not reflect League policy. I don't think that needs to be a serious problem, with the easy ability to review volunteers' work now afforded by the Internet.

The League does have a "bikes fly free" program in connection with a travel agent. I am pleased to know that the League's Board has taken some preliminary steps toward restoring a volunteer network. But this has been only a beginning.

Let's not just go back to the way things were

I would like to look at that initiative as an opportunity to re-think outreach efforts rather than simply to restore what existed before. Thanks to the Internet, communication is much easier than it was only a few years ago, and many services can be managed much more efficiently. Perhaps some can be more centralized.  But still, many services require local input. The State Legislative Representative and Touring Information Director programs, for example, depend heavily on volunteers. Such programs can not be run by a staff member in Washington.

Each service which had existed before might be reevaluated and rebuilt; some might be emphasized and others dropped. There are important services which other national bicycling organizations provide to their members, for example insurance and legal services. These are a very important selling point with members.

The League needs to inform its members.

The League now seeks members through a national advertising campaign featuring Lance Armstrong. This will recruit new members who generally support bicycling, but who are not familiar with the League's policies.

A slogan that the League is "working for a bicycle-friendly America" is not enough to keep members paying their dues. The League must provide services to the new members, or it could lose them.

But also, the League must inform the new members of the issues and concerns that face adult road bicyclists and bicycling families. Another danger of the membership program is that it might succeed only in building an apathetic or poorly-informed membership.

A poorly-informed membership will no longer be able to direct the League in its advocacy role, and the result is bound to be advocacy that serves cyclists' interests poorly.

Next: The Bike-Ed Program

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Contents ©  2002, John S. Allen
May be reproduced, with attribution.
Last revised 21 February 2003