A number of our member universities are cited in this new report from the US Public Interest Research Group. Great to see higher education institutions getting some recognition in steering the way for the nation’s future transportation systems.
Congrats to all the new additions and to those who moved up in the rankings! A special shout out to David at UC Davis for becoming the second Platinum BFU — you run an amazing program there. I recently heard Bill Nesper from the League talk about this BFU program at the Bike Symposium as part of the AORE conference here. It really is a valuable process for bringing together all the parts of the university who work on biking, and for getting feedback on how to improve. Next deadline is August 2014!
(courtesy of member Jessica Zdeb, Transportation Planner, Toole Design Group)
Note: Our List of University Bike Programs has been updated with BFU status through fall 2013. If your university isn’t on this list please add it (it’s a Wiki page, so anyone can update it!).
Campus Bike Programmer’s dinner attendees, AORE – Bike Symposium (L to R: Tim Potter, MSU Bikes; Ginny Sullivan, Adventure Cycling; Jessica Zdeb, Toole Design; Beverly Malone, UMD Transportation; John Brandt, UMD Bikes Coord; Gerald Fittipaldi, Civil Engr.; Devan Tracy, Engineer.
A number of our members attended the annual conference of the Association of Outdoor Recreation and Education (AORE) held at the U of MD in College Park, MD, Nov. 7 – 9th. It was the first year for the Bike Symposium which featured quite a good variety of topics and presentations from different universities around the country. Our colleagues from the UMD Transportation office (Beverly Malone, Asst Director; Mike Levengood, UMD bikeUMD bicycle coordinator) and the conference co-host Mike Doyle, Asst. Director, Campus Recreation Services, were gracious hosts and showed me around to my amazement of everything that can be done within the confines of an older university with very tight space.
Here are links to a couple presentations from AORE-2013:
Ask the Experts gathering, AORE – Bike Symposium (L to R: Beverly Malone, Jessica Zdeb, Gerald Fittipaldi, Rick Dawson, CSU – Monterey Bay)
“Campus Bike Planning 101″ : (21 pgs) was given by Jessica Zdeb of the Toole Design Group, with the assistance of Beverly Malone, of U-MD. An excellent resource/ reference for universities looking to develop a comprehensive bike plan or improve/ update the plan they might already have: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7nC7dXHvhYmb1c3YVJFdDVWcDg/edit?usp=sharing
For 2014 the AORE annual conference will move to Portland, Oregon (Nov. 12 – 14), so hopefully that location and having one symposium under our belts will combine for an even better turn-out and program! Be sure and hold the date and your budget to attend!
More of my pics from the AORE Conference and UMD visit that might interest you are here.
One-way cycle track at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts
Alta Planning, a leading consulting firm in N. America, published an excellent paper on best practices in campus bike facilities planning. Take a look at the PDF report here. Alta’s mission is to create active communities where bicycling and walking are safe, healthy, and fun. Nice that university-related bike programming is growing as a subject of research.
New awards heat up the competition among college conferences
Washington, D.C. – March 29, 2012 – The NCAA basketball tournament is down to the Final Four, but the bracket of Bicycle Friendly Universities (BFU) is expanding. Today, the League of American Bicyclists advanced nine new universities to the elite ranks of bicycle-friendly campuses.
“As universities compete for students and status, becoming more bicycle-friendly is a winning strategy that energizes and invigorates staff and the student body, not just in March, but year-round,” said Andy Clarke, President of the League of American Bicyclists. “By making cycling safe and enjoyable, BFUs are both educating and empowering the next generation to adopt smarter, healthier transportation habits that will last a lifetime.”
Ramon Zavala, UC- Irvine and friend, Luis A. Vivanco, Ph.D., U of VT and my friend, Chris Phelan, founder of the Ride of Silence.
Third Gathering of the Univ. Bike Programmers @ the 2012 National Bike Summit
A small group of us gathered during the Natl. Bike Summit, Mar. 21st at Fausto Coppi’s Organic Restaurant one of the only bike-themed restaurants I’ve ever visited, and not just any bike theme but historic Italian racing theme after the late Italian legend Fausto Coppi. The place is decorated with old-school bike racing photos and memorabilia.
Bicycle Friendly Universities Revolutionize Campus Bicycling Culture Six New Universities are Honored
Washington, D.C. – October 10, 2011 –
The League of American Bicyclists is announcing six new Bicycle Friendly Universities (BFU) today at the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) conference in Pittsburgh, Pa. “We are pleased to see that so many of our great higher education institutions – large and small – are stepping up to meet the challenges of sustainability, safety and health, and they are doing so with the help of the Bicycle Friendly Universities program,” said Andy Clarke, president of the League. “College campuses across the country are offering students and faculty a higher quality of life as a result.” The BFU program recognizes institutions of higher education for promoting and providing a more bicycle-friendly campus for students, staff and visitors. The six new BFUs complete a successful inaugural year for the BFU program. There are now 26 BFUs in 20 states that are encouraging students and staff to travel to and on their campuses on bicycles.
A small group of us were at the National Bike Summit last week for the first round of Bike Friendly University awards. Ariadne Scott from Stanford, David Takemoto-Weerts from UC- Davis, Beverly Malone from U-Maryland and Gus Gosselin from MSU (co-founder of the MSU Bike Project which evolved into MSU Bikes).
There were some others representing some of the other universities but I didn’t know them and unfortunately we didn’t talk or have a gathering.
Ariadne and I are now on the League’s Bike Friendly America advisory group and attended their annual meeting while in DC. The group is very interested in reaching out to more universities to encourage more of them to pursue the 5 “E”s of a Bike Friendly University. I plan to organize a phone conference soon to discuss this and other issues.
Photo courtesy Chris Eichler, League of American Bicyclists
A small group of our network members had a very info-packed meeting on Sept. 13 before the Pro-Walk/ Pro-Bike conferencegot started in Chattanooga, TN. Our notes from that meeting are here. Other files from the conference have been added to our Yahoo group Files section in a folder named ‘ProWalk-ProBike Conference’.
Photos that I took during the conference can be viewed here:
One of the more impactful sessions I attended that would be of special interest to our network was about the dearth of college level course work in the field of Bicycle and Pedestrian Design or any aspect of bicycle and pedestrian issues. Here are some links to more info. for the presenters of that session plus a link to a longer list of other instructors around the country:
