Minnesota Public Radio’s Traffic Updates Include Bicycle Commuter Info

With no mass media mentions, cycling to work or school usually flies under the radar, and the dearth of bike commuting info has long been a bugbear of Travis Norvell, the pastor of the South Minneapolis’ Judson Memorial Baptist Church. He tweets as @pedalingpastor and, as the name suggests, gets around by bicycle, even in the depths of a Twin Cities winter.

A daily listener of Cathy Wurzer’s Morning Edition on Minnesota Public Radio, Norvell never heard traffic reports that he found useful, so he started tweeting the presenter with his own road and bike path info.

Wurzer now includes the updates on her show, an inclusion that Norvell says normalizes commuting by bike (and bus).

Norvell is fed updates from fellow bicycle commuters and scrapes data from key social media accounts. He also ropes in family members.