FAQ

If the mayor is a ride leader in the local bicycle club, your strategy is simple: show them the BFA brochure, website or BFC PowerPoint presentation!

But, Most Communities Will Take A Little More Work. Here Are The Steps To Encouraging Your Community To Apply:

1. You must identify the decision-makers responsible for the policy changes you seek.
2. Ask for a letter of support for recommending the Bicycle Friendly Community program from any organization that might be inclined to support better bicycling in your community. The local bicycle club or advocacy organization is a natural first choice, but local environmental groups, civic organizations, walk advocates, transit advocates, main street organizations, businesses, and others will tend to cooperate if you make it easy enough for them. Draft the letter for them so they know exactly what you need to minimize the amount of work you ask of them.
3. Set up a meeting with the decision maker(s) you identified and bring your best spokesperson and copies of the letters of support with you. Talk about the benefits that bicycle improvements as well as the benefits of a Bicycle Friendly Community designation. A good starting point is to ask if the person will submit the application for Bicycle Friendly Community status. One way the city can show its support for building a Bicycle Friendly Community is by adopting the Action Plan for Bicycle Friendly Communities available here.
   
4. Following the meeting, write a thank you memo that spells out your understanding of what was agreed to. Lack of persistence is the downfall of many a bicycle advocate. Motivated people motivate politicians and their employees.

• The BFC, BFB, BFU, and BFS programs are described in one booklet.
  • The digital BFA Booklet is designed to give advocates, elected officials, business leaders, students, and university administrators a comprehensive look at the BFA programs. A visual and written tour of the four programs, the small booklet also includes a brief self-assessment tool to evaluate the bicycle-friendliness of your community, business, or university.
  • Print your desired quantities and place a local organization sticker on the back of the booklet.
• Promoting the BFA programs on your website is a terrific way of highlighting the success stories in your area (i.e. awarded businesses, communities, and universities). Using your website as a connector for all your local or regional BFA awardees makes for a more robust bicycle-friendly network.
  • Use this guide and download the logos here.
• Hosting a BFA presentation is a cost-effective and efficient way of distributing information about any of the four programs. This could be done onsite or through a webinar by a local advocate, League staff, or both. Organization of a BFA presentation is easy and is a great way to bring together various local partners and build momentum. Download an overview of the BFA program or a presentation specific to BFB, BFC, or BFU below or request a copy in PowerPoint format, email [email protected]. The presentations are each about 10-15 minutes in length with the script and can be presented at your convenience.
  • BFA Overview Slides and Script (updated 10/6/20)
  • BFC Slides and Script (updated 10/6/20)
  • Organize a webinar for your region with a League representative by contacting [email protected].
• Share the Attributes of a BFC (PDF)

The Bicycle Friendly Community Award levels (Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum) are determined based on the '5E' criteria. The BFC program is designed to meet all communities where they are, regardless of their size, geography, demographics, socio-economics, politics, or current transportation patterns.

While there is no one-size-fits-all rubric of the exact steps every community must take to become a BFC, the 5E criteria provides a framework for all communities to identify the policies, strategies, programs, and infrastructure that make the most sense for them, and that will have the greatest impact on increasing safety and ridership in their unique community.

Generally speaking, to receive a Bronze-level award, a community must have some level of activity across all 5 E categories, and show particular strengths in at least one E category. A Silver-level community typically shows strengths in at least two-to-three E categories. A Gold-level community typically shows strengths in at least three-to-four E categories. And finally, a Platinum-level community typically shows strengths in all five E categories.

There is also Diamond-level category, which no community has yet achieved, which also requires hitting specific outcome metrics such as high ridership and low crashes and fatalities. More specific details about these standards is currently being updated and will be released in the coming months.