Frequently
Asked Questions
Below are some of the most frequently asked questions about how The Bike Match Network works. If you have a question that's not answered below please don't hesitate to reach out.
What is The Bike Match Network?
The Bike Match Network is a global community of safe streets advocacy organizations, transit agencies, community bike builds and bike shops working together to get as many people on bicycles as possible. The Bike Match Network provides a suite of tools to help you find free bikes and match them with people who really need them right now. We also help you promote your bike match program, streamline communication and logistics and eliminate all of the headaches of building your own bespoke solution.
How does it work?
When someone requests or donates a bike via our intake forms we automatically send them a confirmation email with next steps and add them to your dashboard where you can make notes, prioritize essential workers and match people up. We also provide tools to filter requests and donations by height and location and are working on a recommendation engine that will make matching donors and recipients even easier.
How much does it cost?
The Bike Match Network is completely free and always will be. The Bike Match Network is developed and maintained by a small group of volunteer safe streets activists who believe in the transformative power of the bicycle and our work is only possible because of generous donors like you.
What's required to join
The Bike Match Network?
We need the following to setup a page for your city:
  • A high-res logo of your organization in .png, .svg or .jpg format
  • An email address to accept incoming requests and donations. (We recommend setting up bikematch@your-organization.org)
  • A short, region specific paragraph for your homepage to go under the "learn more" button.
  • A custom liability waiver if you want to provide your own. This is optional.
After we receive the above from you we'll set up your page and provide you with a unique login that will allow you to test making requests, donations and matches to ensure everything looks good before you go live.
I'm already running a Bike Match program. Can I still join The Network?
Yes! If you're able to send us a spreadsheet of your requests and donations we should be able to import them into our system. Contact us to discuss your specific situation and we'll see what we can do.
Is there a demo I can try out?
Yes! We made a live demo that shows how every aspect of the platform works. Contact us and we'll send you the login.
Can I embed your forms on my site?
Yes! If you have or are able to create a custom bike match page on your website you can easily embed our forms and still use our platform to manage everything. Take a look at how The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition designed a custom bike match page that embeds our forms.
Can I use a custom liability waiver?
Absolutely or you are welcome to use our default liability waiver.
Which aspects of the platform
are customizable?
We currently support custom liability waivers, hashtags and minor edits to the emails we send out. We're still a very small team of volunteers but we hope to soon have the resources to allow for full customization of the platform. If you desire a more customized experience than what we currently support contact us and we'll be happy to see what we can do.
Who owns the data you collect?
You do. At any time you can request an export of all of the data we have for your city and we will make that data available to you in a spreadsheet. We are in the process of adding the ability to export your data directly from your dashboard. While you own the data we collect, we reserve the right to add participants of The Bike Match Network to The Bike Match Network and Safe Lanes newsletter from which they can opt out of at any time. We hate spam and nefarious email marketing as much as you do. If you have additional questions about our data policy please contact us.
Who created The Bike Match Network and why?
The Bike Match Network launched on April 10th 2020 and was created by long time safe streets activists Stephen Braitsch and Sam Sadle. Sam approached Stephen with the idea of launching a bike match program in San Francisco after Transportation Alternatives launched the first Bike Match program in New York City in March. Stephen designed and built the first version of this website in 72 hours and The Bike Match Network has since quickly grown to support 12 cities and has helped connect 314 essential workers with free bikes.
The fundamental goal of The Bike Match Network is to get as many people on bikes as possible during the COVID-19 pandemic and help participants of our program join the global safe streets movement for healthier and more equitable cities.