Skip to Content
Streetsblog New York City home
Streetsblog New York City home
Log In
Bicycling

Why a Struggling Industrial City Decided Bikes Are the Way Forward

Reading, Pennsylvania, isn't your stereotypical biking mecca. It's a low-income, largely Latino, post-industrial city of almost 90,000 people.

But without much of anything in the way of bike infrastructure, Reading has the third-highest rate of bike commuting in Pennsylvania and is among the top 15 cities on the East Coast.

Some civic leaders in Reading have seized on the idea of better serving people who bike as a way to improve safety and community, as well as to help reverse the legacy of sprawl and disinvestment.

We're excited to be the first to post this video from the Portland-based publishing crew Elly Blue and Joe Biel.

The film is part of a short series that Elly and Joe produced to show a broader cross-section of regions and people working on bike issues. They made the films while traveling around America on their Dinner and Bikes Tour.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog New York City

Here’s Everything Wrong With the Judge’s Order to Rip Up the 31st Street Protected Bike Lane

A Queens judge overstepped her jurisdiction when she ordered the city to rip up a protected bike lane in Astoria, experts said.

December 9, 2025

MTA Still Won’t Embrace Open Gangway Subway Cars

The see-through cars have been standard across the globe for a generation, but to the MTA, it's still untested technology.

December 9, 2025

How Much Will New Yorkers Pay For Trump’s Penn Station Redevelopment Scheme?

New Yorkers could wind up paying twice for the new Penn Station: once when Amtrak comes asking for money and then when a private developer makes their money back from the project.

December 9, 2025

Tuesday’s Headlines: Clearing the Air Edition

We've been clear that congestion pricing is working. Turns out, congestion pricing was, too! Plus other news.

December 9, 2025

NYPD Finds Mysterious Corpse in Car With Illegal Tints Parked at a Hydrant Near Stationhouse

The discovery is a gruesome demonstration of the NYPD's systemic failure to enforce parking rules around its own station houses.

December 8, 2025

Who Rides on the Sidewalk? To NYPD, Just Blacks and Hispanics

The NYPD has ramped up its enforcement against cyclists for squeezing pedestrians, but in a very suspect manner.

December 8, 2025
See all posts