75 organizations earn Bicycle Friendly Business awards this spring

Biking is America’s new favorite pastime. A look around your neighborhood is all it takes to confirm what data from Eco-Counter shows: more people are biking in more places than before the pandemic began. While states and communities play an important role in building the infrastructure for new riders to safely and easily go places by bike, it’s businesses and organizations that give those rides bike joy by welcoming people biking to essential jobs or on weekend trips to pick up pastries. Today, the League of American Bicyclists is honoring 75 companies and organizations with Bicycle Friendly Business awards for their work creating environments that inspire bike joy for customers and employees. 

“In the middle of a pandemic that has put unimaginable stress on business owners and employees, we are proud to recognize these 75 businesses for their sustained efforts to foster the health and well-being of their employees and customers,” said Bill Nesper, executive director of the League of American Bicyclists. “Groups that earn a Bicycle Friendly Business award have shown their commitment to  taking positive steps in our movement to build a more Bicycle Friendly America for everyone.”

This round of 75 Bicycle Friendly Business awards, plus four Honorable Mentions, includes seven organizations earning Platinum-level recognition, including a new applicant, Quality Bike Products-Pennsylvania, which joins the Quality Bike Products-Minnesota facility as a Platinum-level Bicycle Friendly Business. Twelve Gold-level awards include new applicant WomanTours based in Rochester, New York, and nine companies that earned upgrades in their recognition, demonstrating progress in their work to build better places to bike. 

This round of Bicycle Friendly Businesses also includes 12 companies located in the Tampa Bay, Florida, area thanks to local advocacy led by Pedal Power Promoters, a consultancy firm that aids companies in becoming more welcoming to bikes and is celebrating its 100th certified BFB in the region this round. Local advocates in Northwest Arkansas, and Palo Alto, California, also continue to push regionally for companies to join the ranks of those working to build better places where people can bike to work or for fun. Matching Tampa’s feat, Fayetteville, Arkansas added 12 new Bicycle Friendly Businesses this round. Other highlights in BFB round include:

• Five bike shops earning awards, three for the first time
• Two breweries and one winery earning awards: Aeronaut Brewing, Big Grove Brewery, and Clif Family Winery
• Six hotels and B&Bs earning awards, plus two others garnering Honorable Mentions
• Largest employer: the downtown Houston-based Chevron Corporation with 7,500 employees (followed closely by Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory with 7,000 employees)

For many of the companies and organizations on this list, business today looks much different than it did when they applied in February 2020. 

 “The League is grateful for the myriad ways Bicycle Friendly Businesses have contributed to building a more Bicycle Friendly America, both in the past and moving forward. When your bike is your main mode of transportation, you learn to be flexible. Sometimes you have to search blocks away from your destination for a safe place to lock up your bike, or you have to take shelter in a downpour,” said Amelia Neptune, Bicycle Friendly America program director at the League of American Bicyclists. “Bicycle Friendly Businesses give people who bike the peace of mind that there will be a good rack out front or better yet, inside, and there will be a place to change into dry clothes. For someone thinking about making their first commute by bike, a Bicycle Friendly Business is the kind of employer that offers encouragement, education, and resources to help their commuters do so safely and confidently from day one. This pandemic can feel like a downpour and it’s causing many people to rethink the old ‘normal’ like how you get to work. We hope that the bicycling community can support the small businesses who have given so much to us.”

The Bicycle Friendly Business program is part of the larger Bicycle Friendly America program which also awards communities and universities at the platinum, gold, silver, and bronze levels in recognition of the role each plays in making biking better for all. Explore the list of Spring 2020 Bicycle Friendly Businesses as a PDF or look through the full list of all current BFBs. 

The next deadline to apply for Bicycle Friendly Business recognition is approaching on July 23, 2020. To learn more about the program or to apply for the next round of awards please visit bikeleague.org/business.