56 Bicycle Friendly Businesses Recognized During Bike Month

What does the company at the top of the Fortune 500 list have in common with a rural soup kitchen? As of today, they’re both officially Bicycle Friendly Businesses!

Ahead of Bike to Work Week, when the League of American Bicyclists encourages Americans across the country to commute by bike, we are proudly recognizing 56 new and renewing Bicycle Friendly Businesses. From corporate giants to local gems, these diverse establishments share a commitment to fostering a Bicycle Friendly America for everyone.

“This round of new and renewing Bicycle Friendly Businesses is a testament to the power of bicycles, not only as a workplace initiative but as a catalyst for broader societal change,” said Bill Nesper, executive director of the League of American Bicyclists. “Progress stems from collective effort, and we applaud these employers for their commitment to collaboration in driving transformative local action for better, safer bicycling. “

List of all Spring 2024 Awards + Honorable Mentions | List of all Current BFBs

Of the fifty-plus organizations awarded, this round represented a dazzling diversity of business types with establishments like animal shelters, libraries, and preschools joining the ranks of Bicycle Friendly Businesses.

The list also includes four Fortune 500 corporate campuses, with Platinum-level Walmart’s Home Campus in Bentonville leading the pack and Chevron’s Houston campus moving up from Bronze to Silver.  

Along with an array of business types, BFBs are based in a range of community types with a surge of rural businesses applying for the first time.

One example is new Silver-level BFB Manna, a soup kitchen whose efforts are motivated by a desire to promote safe and reliable access to transportation in their rural community of Durango, Colorado — ensuring “vulnerable community members will have increased access to the services and resources they need to help them take the next steps to self-sufficiency.”

As this network of Bicycle Friendly Businesses expands and diversifies, it inspires more organizations to show solidarity with cyclists and work together to make change happen. These collaborative efforts tend to show up in regional hotspots, as friendly competition along with practice-sharing encourages more local organizations to apply for an award. 

In the Tri-Town area of Bethlehem, Franconia, and Littleton, New Hampshire, which has a collective population of 8,200, eight local businesses, ranging from a brewery with 65 employees to a one-person independent bike shop, are joining the Bicycle Friendly Business list – including three first-time Gold awardees! Each one of these small businesses shared stories of working collaboratively with one another to improve their communities, and their workplaces, for bicycling.   

Two other communities also saw significant jumps in their number of BFBs thanks to local collaboration and the leadership of local champions. In the suburban community of Fitchburg, Wisconsin, the local advocacy group Bike Fitchburg recruited and assisted seven businesses to apply – six of which were awarded, ranging from a hospital to an ice cream shop. In the beach town of Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, local bike shop Hilton Head Bicycle Company not only renewed their own BFB status (moving up from Bronze to Silver!) but they recruited five other bike shops across the island to join the Bicycle Friendly Business program as well. 

Another great example of regional partnership comes from Michiana Area Council of Governments (MACOG) in South Bend, Indiana — a region characterized by “many small communities that want to prioritize active transportation, but do not have the resources.” As a renewing Bicycle Friendly Business moving up from Bronze to Silver, MACOG provides funding and expertise to shape initiatives for better biking — including a Tactical Urbanism toolbox stocked with over $25,000 of materials shared between various project sites throughout the four counties. In MACOG’s application, they share that “over a dozen short-term projects have been completed leading to three projects slated for permanent solutions in 2024.”

In the midst of Bike Month, these new and renewing BFBs remind us of the undeniable, inspiring truth: life is better when more people ride bikes. From quiet rural towns to bustling metropolises, each organization adds power to our network working to build a more Bicycle Friendly America. 

If your business would like to join the movement, submissions for the next round of the Bicycle Friendly Business program are due on June 5, 2024. Throughout May, enjoy a special 10% discount offered as an incentive to catalyze further progress toward a more Bicycle Friendly America for everyone! Just use the code “BikeMonth24” at checkout.

Apply for BFB Status

About the League Of American Bicyclists

Since 1880, the League of American Bicyclists has been people-powered, with a goal to make bicycling safer and easier as a means of transportation and recreation. Today, the League continues to improve lives and strengthen communities through bicycling. We are more than 200,000 members and supporters strong with more than 1,000 state and local advocacy groups and bike clubs as well as thousands of businesses, universities, and communities together leading the movement to create a Bicycle Friendly America for everyone. 

About the Bicycle Friendly Business Program

Bicycle Friendly Business awards reflect local leaders’ ongoing work to build better places to bike and evaluate those efforts as part of a national movement. Each of the five levels of the Bicycle Friendly Business award – diamond, platinum, gold, silver, and bronze, plus an honorable mention category – provides a clear path for businesses to continuously improve. Visit bikeleague.org/business to learn more about the BFB program.