Bike Stop Cafe: How the ATVs on the Katy Trail bill is affecting our business

Tony and Jodi Devonshire of the Bike Stop Cafe & Outpost in St Charles are very concerned about the recent proposal to allow ATVs and utility vehicles on the Katy Trail. They attended Capitol Day this week to talk with their legislators about the issue.

How does this proposal affect their business?  Tony and Jodi told us:

Do we want the Katy Trail to look like this after every rain storm?

Bike Stop Cafe & Outpost is located on the Katy Trail in historic St. Charles, MO. We depend heavily on the Katy Trail for our revenue. In fact, the reason we are at this location is directly because of the Katy Trial.  We, like others on the trail are a tourism destination. Every year, for the past 6 years, we've logged thousands of visitors from all over the world. In addition to out of state travelers, we get thousands of local trial users that start or end their Katy Trail ride at our location. Using the Katy Trail, we bring in local tourist from all over the tri-state area.

We are already seeing a financial impact of this legislation. We've had calls asking about it & folks telling us they will not make a vacation trip for fear of running into ATV's or the unfavorable trail conditions they will likely cause. For every one person who calls, we know there are dozens more who simply make other vacation plans on trail outside of our state.

Last year, Bike Stop Cafe & Outpost grossed over $500,000. We estimate that 65% of those fund are directly related to Katy Trail use. If only 20% of our customers choose not to go on the Katy Trail because of this legislation, we would incur a minimum annual revenue loss of more than $65,000 for our business and the local tax base. This is just our business. There are hundreds of businesses along the Katy Trail that rely on an even larger percentage their revenue from the trail. 

The damage is already done. The longer this bill is in committees, the more likely we are to lose revenue as word gets out that Missouri is anti biking, hiking & walking. 

Happy Trails!
Tony & Jodi

Bike Stop Cafe                                 Bike Stop Outpost
701 S Riverside Drive                                        610 S. Main Street
St. Charles, MO 63301                                      St. Charles, MO 63301   
636.724.9900                                                     636.724.9900
314.973.4422 (mobile)                                       314.973.4422 (mobile)      

www.bikestopcafes.com                                            www.bikestopcafes.com/outpost

https://www.facebook.com/bikestopcafe            https://www.facebook.com/bikestopoutpost

What can you do to stop this bill? Visit our Advocacy Alert page.

And please sign the petition opposing ATVs on the Katy Trail here--we're presenting it to Missouri House and Senate Leadership next week.

Image credit: Fall ATV Tour by Linda on FlickR. License: Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 2.0.