Amsterdam is No. 1
A travel website has come up with the 11 most bike-friendly cities in the world. I'm pleased, and somewhat surprised, to discover that four of them are in the US.
The highest ranked US city at No. 2 overall is Portland, Oregon. Boulder, Colorado, follows at No. 4; Davis, California at No. 5; and San Francisco at No. 6.
The ranking is based on criteria used by the League of American Bicyclists to name cities to its Bicycle Friendly Communties list. The results here are interesting because Davis leads the LAB's bike friendly list as the only Platinum level city.
Enough nitpicking, though. Here are the 11 Most Bicycle Friendly Cities in the World according to Virgin Vacations:
1. Amsterdam, The Netherlands — 40% of traffic is bicycles (no surprise). See the movie above.
2. Portland, Oregon — High level bike culture (see BikePortland.org), 260 miles of bike routes and lanes, and program that supplies low-income people with bikes, helmets, lights, and rainwear.
3. Copenhagen, Denmark — 32% of workers bicycle to work, bikes lanes separated from motorists by curbs, and free public bike program. (More about Amsterdam and Copenhagen)
4. Boulder, Colorado — 95% of arterials have bike lanes or trails, and 15% of transportation budget spent on bicycling.
5. Davis, California — More than 100 miles of bike lanes encourage 17% of residents to bike to work, University bans most motor vehicles, and history of extensive planning for bicycles. (LAB ranks this as the only platinum level city in the US)
6. Sandnes, Norway — Chosen for a 4-year pilot project to increase bicycling in 1990, which continues to this day.
7. Trondheim, Norway — The city has the world's first bicycle lift that pushes bicyclists up a steep hill.
8. San Francisco, California — Some 40,000 residents bicycle to work regularly; public transportation carries bikes, and driving lanes converted to bike lanes (it needs a bike lift, like Trondheim, though).
9. Berlin, Germany — The nation's largest city committed to making bicycles comprise 15% of traffic by 2010 (12% now), and hosts online bicycle router.
10. Barcelona, Spain — Low-cost bike rental at 100 stations, lots of bike parking, bike lanes.
11. Basel, Switzerland — Bike lanes, as well as traffic signals and left-hand turn lanes for bikes.
From the League of American Bicyclists, the categories for appearing on their Bicycle Friendly Cities list:
Education: Does the community have systems in place to train children and adult cyclists?
Engineering: Are bicyclists included in the city’s transportation plan?
Enforcement: Do police officers understand and enforce bicyclists’ rights and responsibilities?
Encouragement: Does the community participate in Bike Month, offer bike rodeos, host community bike rides, or otherwise encourage cycling?
Evaluation: Does the community have methods in place to ensure their bicyclist programs are making a difference?
Via Wired blog.
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