2019 Bicycle Friendly University awards announced!

US map of the BFUs in 2019
US map of the BFUs in 2019

Courtesy Amelia Neptune, LAB, October 17, 2019
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I’m very excited to share that the League of American Bicyclists has announced our 2019 Bicycle Friendly University (BFU) awards this morning, with 48 New and Renewing BFUs, and 4 Honorable Mentions.

A few highlights from the 2019 Round:

There are 3 new Platinum-level BFUs (for a new total of 8) with the addition of UC Irvine, UC Santa Barbara, and UW-Madison. Stanford, Portland State University, and Colorado State University all renewed their existing Platinum statuses this round as well.

We also added our first BFU in the state of West Virginia, so there are now 208 Bicycle Friendly Universities awarded in 47 states + DC. (We’re just missing Hawaii, North Dakota, and Delaware!)

The largest campus to be awarded this round was The Ohio State University, with over 61,000 students, which moved up from Bronze to Silver, and the smallest campus in this round was M State Fergus Falls, with 700 students, which is a new Bronze-level BFU.

See the full announcement here.

BFUs in 2019 infographic
BFUs in 2019 infographic

And the full current list of BFUs here.

The 2020 BFU Application is already open for submissions, and the deadline to apply next year is August 25, 2020. (But it’s never too early to get started!)  Find the online application and Word document preview here.

Learn more about the BFU program here.

Thanks, and a giant congratulations to all 52 schools being recognized today!

Cheers, Amelia

New Bike Friendy Universities announced!

Nov. 14, 2018

Nov. 14, 2018

Courtesy Amelia Neptune, Director, Bicycle Friendly America Program, League of American Bicyclists:

I’m excited to share that today the League of American Bicyclists is announcing our 2018 Bicycle Friendly University awards!

Congratulations to all the 45 new and renewing Bicycle Friendly Universities and Colleges being announced today!  

You can check out the formal announcement on the LAB blog here.

2017 Bike Friendly Univ. Awards – 46 New & Renewing

Silver BFU Utah State University
Outdoor bike clinic @ silver BFU Utah State University

Better late than never right?  Right.  Well, as of early November 2017, the “League of American Bicyclists announced 46 new and renewing Bicycle Friendly Universities℠ (BFUs), There are now 182 BFUs in 45 states and Washington, DC, a cutting-edge group of colleges and universities across the United States transforming their campuses and the communities around them.”

Congratulations to all these new BFU’s!

Read the full article here….

National Bike Summit 2017 photos

Some photos from NBS 2017.  Photos by Tim Potter except where noted.
These photos plus more on Facebook here.

National Bike Summit 2017 BFU offerings

Bike UMD mobile workshop graphic

Monday – Bicycle Friendly Univ. Mobile Workshop at the U of Maryland
A first-time BFU focused mobile workshop offering at the Summit.  Unfortunately, it’s full (as of 3/1/17)Will be posting photos and notes after returning from the Summit.

Lunch time afterwards with Steve Sanders, Jacob Adams, Aaron Goldbeck, Aaron Madrid and John Shrader
Lunch time afterwards with Steve Sanders, Jacob Adams, Aaron Goldbeck, Aaron Madrid and John Shrader – We promise:  2017 will be much more fun & diverse!

Tuesday evening Social get-together – Time – place TBD
We’re planning an informal after all the other parties, so if you’d like to meet and network with other higher ed bike people adding your name/ email to the poll below and we’ll make sure you get the info. on where/ when we’ll be getting together when everyone else is emailed.

Pano of the session
Pano of the 2016 BFU round-table session

Wed. Campus Bike Programmer Round-table Brunch – 10 am – 1pm
Rm. 3300 – Symons Hall, College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences, UMD  (ask once inside the bldg. for further directions)
For those of you unable to participate in lobbying your legislators during the National Bike Summit 2017, get together with your fellow campus bike programmer – coordinator during brunch and enjoy an informal round-table discussion time.  Pls. include your email address w/ your name so we can update you on meeting location, etc.  http://doodle.com/poll/geruikckyg98qbsu

According to our host, Aaron Goldbeck, Bicycle Coordinator UMD, “Probably the best way to get there is to take the Metro to College Park and then use our bikeshare to get to campus.  That is exactly what we are doing for the mobile workshop, so assuming that everyone coming to this meeting has done the workshop it should be pretty easy.”

Bicycle Friendly University Showcase Poster Sessions
The 2017 National Bike Summit will highlight innovative transportation research and bicycle-friendly programs and initiatives from bicycle-friendly campuses across the country.  Colleges and Universities that participate in the League’s Bicycle Friendly University program are invited to present a poster showcasing their efforts and achievements.

POSTER SESSION DETAILS
All posters will be presented twice during the 2017 National Bike Summit:

Monday, March 6, 3:30-5:00pm
Renaissance Hotel & Conference Center (Room TBA)
RSVP: http://sched.co/9cgt
Poster set up: 3:15-3:30pm

Wednesday, March 8, 1:30-2:30pm

Rayburn Foyer, Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515
RSVP: http://sched.co/95Ri
Poster set up: 1-1:30pm

Questions?  Contact AMELIA NEPTUNE
Program Manager, Bicycle Friendly Business & University
AMELIA@BIKELEAGUE.ORG  | 202-621-5457

51 New and Renewing Bicycle Friendly Universities Announced!

Northwest U BFU press-release-11-2016
Northwestern Univ. in Evanston, IL, was one of the new BFUs this round.

Fantastic news to see so many of our members getting national recognition for their hard work making their campuses more bike friendly!  164 universities are recognized now!?  Wow!

Here’s an excerpt from the League of American Bicyclists’ press release on Nov. 28, 2016:

“Today, the League of American Bicyclists announced 51 new and renewing Bicycle Friendly Universities℠  (BFUs)  from 25 states, There are now 164 BFUs in 44 states and Washington, DC, a cutting-edge group of colleges and universities across the United States transforming their campuses and the communities around them.”

Read the full article here.

MSU Hosts First Bike Friendly America Conference

The Tour de MSU group poses
The Tour de MSU group poses in front of MSU’s mascot Sparty statue.

As members of the MSU’s Bike Advisory Committee analyzed what made the country’s five platinum-level Bike Friendly Universities so successful it became apparent that MSU needed to get their neighboring communities on board with the same vision to pursue becoming a platinum-level Bike Friendly Community.  This led to reaching out to the League of American Bicyclists and deciding to bring one of their staff to the university to meet with the committee and facilitate meetings with neighboring community leaders.

Steve Sanders, Alternative Transportation Manager of U of MN
Steve Sanders, Alternative Transportation Manager of U of MN, presented the UMN story.

As the cost estimates climbed the idea of turning the visit into a day conference started to come together.  Eventually a new concept for a conference, a Bike Friendly America Conference, was hatched and after months of planning and seeking out sponsors, presenters and attendees the 1st ever conference of its type is now history.

The MSU team is now beginning to think about next year and whether to continue the conference on its campus or to encourage other universities to host it.  Please contact Tim Potter if you’re interested in possibly hosting the event in 2017.

A wrap-up article featuring photos and video highlights can be seen here on the MSU Bikes’ blog.

1st Univ. Bike Program Session @ Natl. Bike Summit 2016

About twenty of us (including a couple vendors) had a great session at the National Bike Summit this March 2016 thanks to Amelia Neptune, the League of American Bicyclists’ Program Manager for their Bicycle Friendly Business & University programs.  Aaron Goldbeck gave one formal presentation on some upcoming new bike programs at the Univ. of Maryland nearby the conference.

Hoping next year’s NBS meeting will be bigger and better!  Amelia is excited about the potential.

Bicycle Friendly University Program Graduates to New Heights

BFU logoIt’s an exciting morning for 49 universities and colleges around the country who are new and renewing Bicycle Friendly Universities.  This new list of BFUs represents a tremendous amount of work by hundreds if not thousands of people in these universities not to mention the monetary investments too in the effort to make campuses more bike friendly and educate the next generation on safe bicycling habits.

Read the League’s full press release here.

Keep up the great work everyone!

Stanford Main Quad