Bicycle Friendly University

Cornell University| Bronze Level

University Highlights: Although Cornell is located in the center of a largely rural and lightly developed area of New York State, traffic circulation on campus originally laid out for horses and buggies had become congested and complex. Investment in circulation infrastructure designed for bicycling is especially important as thousands of pedestrians, cars and bikes as well as hundreds of trucks and buses circulate each day on campus streets that are all open for use as public thoroughfares. Further development of the bicycle circulation system of shared lanes, bike lanes, and shared paths coordinated with well-designed and well-located bike racks is ongoing. Since 1998, Cornell is conducting campus bike tours designed specifically for University Deans, Directors and decision-makers. The tour provides an overview of improvements made and a taste of areas that need improvement, giving people in power an understanding of what the campus environment feels like to a cyclist. A tour by bike of the campus also was part of the 75th anniversary celebration for the School of Architecture, Art and Planning (AAAP) in 2010. In April of the same year, Cornell Transportation Services staff at a central “Thank You for Biking” station provided donuts, cider and encouragement for bicycle commuters arriving on campus in the early morning. For National Bike Month 2010, Cornell Transportation Services and the Cornell Wellness Program sponsored a Bicycle Commuter Challenge for students and employees. To celebrate National Bike to Work Day, more than 50 students, faculty and staff participated in the first “Tour de Cornell” bike ride around campus. As an integral part of the university focus on sustainability, many university web sites include bicycling when encouraging community members to make sustainable transportation choices. For years, Cornell has also promoted bicycle safety throughout the year at a variety of resource fairs focused on student activities, sustainability, employee benefits, and health and wellness.

Most Compelling Recent Bike Related Accomplishment:
The Big Red Bikes student group has worked for over two years to develop a campus bike share program. They conducted a survey that indicated wide-spread interest and support among the student body, applied for funding from the Undergraduate Student Assembly and successfully petitioned the student body for funding allocated from student activity fees. Although on-campus bike sharing does not directly align with the University’s priority on advancing employee bike commuting, in response to the interest generated by the Big Red Bikes group, Cornell Transportation Services commissioned a study on feasibility of bike sharing for the campus. Serving as Big Red Bikes advisor, a Transportation staff person is using study results to assist the students in developing a viable program. Cornell Transportation has also offered ongoing in-kind support, such as installing bike racks for the first bike share stations, providing a secure facility and infrastructure for periodic maintenance and for seasonal storage, providing server space and IT support for a Big Red Bikes web site. Transportation Services has also offered to provide the technology, server space and IT support for evolution of the pilot program from a low-tech bike library to an automated bike share system.