bikewashing

alternative bike-washing

1. uncountableThe practice by people, organizations and states of presenting themselves as bike-friendly without making meaningful changes to promote the use of active means of transport.

   3 more examples

   […] today the phrase bikewashing has also taken on another meaning. The phenomenon is the two-wheeled equivalent to greenwashing. It’s when companies attempt to make their products seem “bike-friendly” even if what they are advertising has absolutely nothing to do with bikes or bettering the bike community.

   2017 August 22, “Bikewashing: The Two-Wheeled Equivalent to Greenwashing”, in Ground Control Systems

   Local groups like Bike Portland have challenged the street-level alterations included in the I-5 project, which make up just a small fraction of total costs, as being used by the Oregon DOT for “greenwashing, bikewashing, and safety-washing yet another massive investment in automobile-oriented infrastructure.”

   2019 June 28, Gideon Weissman, “Boondoggle: Portland Takes a Step Backward”, in Streets Blog USA

   First there was greenwashing, where organisations will spin initiatives or market products as being more environmentally friendly than they are. In the transport space that morphed into PT-washing, where even the tiniest amount of improvement to public transport as part of a mega roading project became promoted as one of the main benefits of the project. Then there was bikewashing, the same thing but for bikes.

   2019 August 13, Matt L, “Safety-washing?”, in Greater Auckland