After a banner debut last year, Tampa’s World Car-Free Day is back with more in store on Sunday, September 22nd.
Lead organizer Walk Bike Tampa and its community partners are putting on a bike ride to a block party. Participants can bike, walk, skate, scoot or take public transit to activity hubs at the Encore district in downtown, Midtown Commons in the Westshore district and Hillsborough Community College’s Ybor Plaza.
“We want residents and visitors to experience Tampa’s streets in a safe, fun way,” says Walk Bike Tampa board member and Car-Free Day event coordinator Paula Flores.
This year’s event reaches more neighborhoods by adding “meet-ups” at The Heights in Seminole Heights, Live Oaks in East Tampa and Hyde Park in South Tampa.
Flores says the idea is for folks in those neighborhoods to meet, grab coffee at a local shop and head out on a group ride. Later on, they ride back together. Before this year’s event even takes place, plans are in the works to have more activity at the meet-up spots next year.
“They’re already talking about having larger events at these new locations next year,” Flores says.
There’s something new for the kids too this year. The Kidical Mass Ride, a play on words homage to “critical mass” bike rides, is a half-mile ride for children and families from Gasparilla Plaza near the Glazer Children’s Museum to Encore. Sidewalk Stompers, a nonprofit focused on increasing the number of students who safely walk and bike to school, is organizing the Kidical ride.
World Car-Free Day reaches 46 countries and more than 2,000 cities. Walk Bike Tampa and partners City of Tampa, Tampa Downtown Partnership, Westshore Alliance, Sidewalk Stompers and Pedal Power Promoters joined their ranks last year. The debut event earned the Activating Public Spaces Award at the Tampa Downtown Partnership 2024 Urban Excellence Awards.
“Walk Bike Tampa and all our partners are pretty excited about how the community has embraced this event,” Flores says. “We’ve doubled the space and next year I’m quite sure we’ll double it again.”
The Car-Free Day movement highlights the environmental, health and congestion-reducing benefits when more people use viable transportation options to the automobile.
“We are not about car shaming in any way,” Flores says. “We are about encouraging people to explore the other emerging transportation choices - walking, biking and transit - that are still growing in our community.”
Promoting different ways to get around town also helps with big-picture transportation goals like safety, Flores says. When more people get around by bike, there is more investment in projects building safer streets and intersections, she says.
In recent years, the City of Tampa has continued to add segments to its Green Spine urban bicycle track. After the current project building an extension through Ybor is finished, the only piece left is Howard Avenue to Rome.
Tampa has also launched a series of quick-build projects to improve pedestrian and bike safety on some of the city’s most dangerous roads. They’re part of the Vision Zero effort to eliminate roadway deaths and serious injuries. Funding for those projects comes from a $20 million Safe Streets For All federal grant and a $5 million local match.
On top of the safety, environmental and health benefits, getting out of the car to get around town by bike can also create a sense of community.
“One of the biggest benefits is community cohesion, connectivity, getting neighbors to visit neighbors,” Flores says.
Car-Free Day’s three activity hubs are part of that effort to bring the community together. Midtown Commons’ monthly Sunshine Market has moved from Saturday to Sunday to coincide with the event. There will be games, including pickleball in the parking garage, raffles and giveaways. AARP Tampa Bay will have a booth. REI Tampa will offer a bicycle fix-it station.
In downtown Tampa, Encore will have 13 to 15 vendors, live music, comedians, food trucks, the kids' ride, games and activities. Tampa General Hospital, the TampaWell initiative that TGH and the City of Tampa launched with community partners and local planning agency Plan Hillsborough will have booths. At the Plan Hillsborough booth, the county Transportation Planning Organization’s community air monitoring network program will hold its first community summit. Sacred Heart Catholic Church’s Bikes from the Heart program, which collects and refurbishes used bikes to donate to those in need, will have a fix-it station and a used bike donation drop-off.
At HCC Ybor Plaza, there’s a DRIP pottery demonstration, e-bike test rides with Pedago, Gasworx/LaUnion information booth, Yimby Tampa, live music, karaoke, bike decorating and Bikes from the Heart used bike collection.
The annual Fancy Women Bike Ride will travel the event route with stops at all three activity hubs.
Tampa Car-Free Day runs from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sunday, September 22nd.
For more information, go to Tampa Car-Free Day