League of American Bicyclists - bicycle friendly community designation

[dandy_warhol]

Has anyone applied for or received a Bicycle Friendly Community Designation from the League of American Bicyclists?

link

I am just curious as to what the application process was like and if you've seen any benefits from such a designation?

[Veloise]

I can provide some insight...as a life member and former employee (magazine editor) of the organization formerly known as the League of American Wheelmen.

BFC nets you a cunning sign to post adjacent to your Girls State Volleyball Champs city limits awards. The criteria are, essentially, how many miles of facilities you have and how well signed/striped they are. Other measurables (bike racks) are addressed. If your fair city is so lucky as to have someone teaching the League's Bike Ed curricula (I'm a certified instructor as well), documenting the duration of this program and numbers trained can give you a bump.

The League publishes stories about the winning cities in a special magazine issue.

On the instructor newsgroup, we have regular discussions about BFC. Here we are working to bring the education program to the locals, teaching the citizenry how to use the existing street network. And they are giving special awards to municipalities based not on how extensively the bike-driver's ed is going, but the numbers and types of bike paths. (I am pretty sure that separated facilities earn more points than mere wide traffic lanes.)

You can find out more about this dichotomy by looking at the labreform.org website. (I'm on there, too.)

HTH

[Gedunker]

You're not really a bicycle-friendly community until you can surf the Copenhagen Green Wave

[jmello]

I actually applied for our city last week. I submitted phase one of the application and I am waiting to hear back from them.