Tools and Resources

We cannot create a Bicycle Friendly America℠ on our own.
Every time you ride a bike you are helping our Bicycle Friendly America program. We want to make sure you have the best resources to transform your community, workplace, campus and state into one which can be recognized by us as bicycle-friendly. Receiving such nationwide recognition by the League demonstrates measurable success in achieving goals of the program, and also helps us provide public awareness of bicycling issues.
Here are some tools to help your local and state efforts through the BFA℠ program.
If you have questions on how to use any of the below-mentioned tools, please give us a call 202-822-1333.
Toolkits for Pursuing BFA recognition
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.
The booklet is available for download and print. 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:
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 bfa@bikeleague.org. 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)
- BFB Slides and Script (updated 8/16/22)
- BFC Slides and Script (updated 10/6/20)
- BFU Slides and Script
Organize a webinar for your region with a League representative by contacting bfa@bikeleague.org.
BFC
- Application Preview in Word (.docx) - Fall 2021 version (Update in progress - sign up here to be contacted when the next version is available!)
- Attributes of a BFC (PDF)
BFB
- Application Preview in PDF - Summer 2022 version
- BFB Program Overview (PDF)
- Attributes of a BFB (PDF)
BFU
- Application Preview in PDF - 2022 version
- BFU General Scoring Guidelines (PDF)
Bicycle Friendly America Resources
Bicycle Commuter data is available on the League of American Bicyclists' data portal: data.bikeleague.org
You can also find bicycle commuter data through the Census Bureau's website: data.census.gov (tables S0801 and B08006 are great for finding commute data).
Bicycle Account Guidelines - This guideline document is meant to help communities, businesses, and universities learn about evaluation tools that they can adapt to their organization to measure bicycle-related improvements, including public surveys.
The New Movement: Bike Equity Today - This report looks at efforts through the United States to make bicycle advocacy and related groups reflect the diverse population of people who bike and address the specific needs of diverse populations through programming and outreach.
BFA Guide - This Guide looks at actions by leading Bicycle Friendly Communities, Businesses and Universities in 2012-13. Use it for inspiration and guidance as your community, business, or university takes action to make biking better.
BFA Blueprint - This blueprint looks specifically at the Bicycle Friendly Community program and describes actions that communities have taken across the 5 Es.
BFA Brochure - The BFA Brochure provides a high-level overview of the Bicycle Friendly America programs and the impact they have had. It is an ideal primer for the community, business, or university considering participating in a Bicycle Friendly America program.
Each Bicycle Friendly America program is built around five categories — known as the Five E’s — that are consistent in making great places for bicycling. These categories are Engineering, Education, Encouragement, Evaluation & Planning, and Equity & Accessibility. View more here.
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Bicycle Friendly Community

The BFC program provides guidance to make your distinct vision for a bikeable community a reality.
Bicycle Friendly Business

Through our Bicycle Friendly Business program, employers are recognized for their efforts to encourage a more bicycle friendly atmosphere.
Bicycle Friendly University

The Bicycle Friendly University program recognizes institutions of higher education for promoting and providing a more bicycle-friendly campus for students, staff and visitors.
Bicycle Friendly State

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