The nonprofit company Parks and Trails New York is approaching one of their signature events from a new angle. B3--Bikes Bring Business--is not focused on the cyclists descending on one of the many towns along the New York State Canal system trails but on the community leaders who might see the benefits of embracing bicycle tourism.
The old event, such as the one held in Glens Falls last September, focused on the cyclists riding into a city to spend money. PTNY officials said this was traditionally a one day event and affected just one community a year.
The new focus of the B3 event, held earlier this month online, "is more for the community leaders...business owners," said Hailey Hamias, a program associate with the group. "Cyclists already know how much they spend on their trips. We don't have to tell them."
The average tourism cyclist spends about $230 per day on hotels, food and sourvenirs over a long weekend, said Hamias and Rebecca De La Cruz, a project coordinator.
The online B3 event encouraged leaders to think about how they cleanly connect bike trails to the downtown area of a town or city and how to use best practices and strategies for a community on a low budget. They talked about how bike accessibility can often make an area more accessible to others, such as people using wheelchairs, De La Cruz and Hamias said.
"In our 2019 Who’s on the Trail Report, we estimated total visitation for the Erie Canalway Trail at 3 million visits, along with an additional 300,000 visits to the Champlain Canalway Trail," De La Cruz wrote in an email. PTNY will compile a new report at the end of 2020.
The Champlain Canalway runs roughly along Route 4 in Saratoga and Washington counties. It connects to the Glens Falls and Lake George areas via the Feeder Canal in Hudson Falls.
Along with B3, the Bike Friendly New York business certification program helps the community show its support, De La Cruz said. Across New York, 160 businesses have been certified since the program started in 2017.
The certification process has many similar requirements for all businesses, but each business type has specific requirements. For instance, any business must know where the trail is relative to their location and must have a very basic tool box for cyclists in need. Restaurants might have to show that there's a solid bike rack nearby where a hotel must show how bicycles can be stored overnight, Hamias said.
To see a list of Certified Bike Friendly businesses along the Champlain Canalway, click here.