New! Campus-biking-archives!

Thanks to the generosity of one of our founders, Tim Ledlie (founding manager of Harvard Quad Bikes, one of the early university-owned bike shops in the USA), he has created a new Google group, the Campus-Biking-Archive: https://groups.google.com/g/campus-biking-archive. 

Here is a description of the group:

This is an archive of conversations over the campus-biking@lists.wisc.edu which existed from 2008 to 2020. This archive contains a selection of the ~1300 threads from that list that had 4 or more responses.

This new Google group is meant as an archive that can be searched by campus bike programmers who want to see what was previously discussed on a topic.  No one can post new messages to the group, and there should never be anything to update with it.

The group content is only available to members of campus-bike-programmers-network@googlegroups.com who’ve been granted access to it and not to members of campus-biking@googlegroups.com (that is, no vendors are going to be given access). Members of the campus-bike-programmers-network@googlegroups.com should now be able to go to https://groups.google.com/g/campus-biking-archive and search the archives.

Some updates to our website (which Tim also kindly updated and hosts since its inception) https://www.universitybikeprograms.org:

– removed the menu link to “FAQ / Best Practices”, since the campus-biking-archive google group is replacing that

– updated the Resources page – update the Email List / Contact page to add information about the new campus-biking-archive and remove information about the old wisc list archive

Onward forward!

Out with the Old – New Campus Biking Google Group

Due to support for our prior listserv having gone away, we have converted to the same list name (now with an ending of @googlegroups.com, note that this ends in googlegroups.com): campus-biking@googlegroups.com

(Outgoing list: campus-biking@lists.wisc.edu)

All individuals on the outgoing list should now have been added by us to the above Google Group and you may begin using this. Please change your email contact for Campus-Biking to have the new email and switch your use to this.

Do let us know if you have any difficulties with this new list.

Thank you. Be healthy.

Tim Potter / Jim Rogers
Campus-biking Group Admins

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
___________

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….

Assoc. for Commuter Transportation Get-together

Tulane University campus.
Tulane University campus scene

This was the first year for a get-together of University Bike Programmers at the ACT Conference, this year in New

Orleans, LA.  This conference brought together about 500 people from all over the country and some from overseas to talk about how to get more people to commute to work via modes other than driving themselves in their own motor vehicle (Single-occupancy Vehicles or SOV’s).  This is also known as “Transportation Demand Management” and many universities have full-time staff working hard on this to keep their campuses from being overrun with congestion on their roads searching for parking spots.  Some universities, which were blessed with lots of property, are just beginning to discover that there are long-term and very expensive consequences to continue to build out that property with surface parking lots or multi-story ramps/ garages.  You might consider joining ACT and beefing up the membership with people who believe in bicycling as one of the cheapest “dates” in the arsenal of ways to reduce the headaches related to SOV’s on our campuses.

Anyway, below are some photos I shot during our get-together of approx. 20 people.  You might recognize some familiar faces!

Many more bike-related photos that I shot during the conference can be found on Facebook 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.