Abstract:
Communities whose leadership and populace desire to increase bicycle
friendliness sometimes seek recognition as a Bicycle Friendly Community (BFC).
The most common tool used is from the League of American Bicyclists (LAB).
Can this metric be used effectively to evaluate bicycle friendliness? If not, what
changes would make a more effective metric?
The reason for this examination is to ensure that communities, which
receive BFC status from LAB and promote themselves as being bicycle friendly
are being evaluated realistically, utilizing funds to ensure the best infrastructure
for the needs of the community, and are genuinely bicycle friendly. If cities that
desire to be bicycle friendly are able to call themselves bicycle friendly while not
providing the right elements of bicycle friendliness in the right ways it can lessen
the credibility of BFC designation from LAB and drive people away from looking
at communities that are promoted as being bicycle friendly.
The elements of bicycle infrastructure are explained along with the suggested
uses for each example as suggested by national experts in alternative
transportation infrastructure. A literature review is provided to explain the need for infrastructural elements to foster bicycle commuting. Economic impacts of
bicycling for both transportation and recreation are explained. The role of culture,
geographic size, topography, and climate on bicycle friendliness are also
discussed. Recommendations for enhancement of the BFC metric are finally
provided.
