The latest City Ratings, PeopleForBikes' annual program ranking global cities and towns on how good they are for bicycling, shows that Canberra is the best place for biking in Australia, followed by Alice Springs and Sunshine Coast. This comes as the Australian Government recently announced the largest investment in active travel in more than a decade. 

Starting in July next year, $100 million will be available for new biking and walking paths across the country. According to the government, this will “support zero-emissions travel, provide a safer environment for cyclists and pedestrians, and promote active and liveable communities”.


City Ratings scores and rankings measure the quality and connectivity of a city’s bike network, including its protected bike lanes, bike paths, low speed limits, and safe crossings. Canberra scores higher (with a rating of 55 out of 100) than any other city in Australia due to its excellent network of shared paths. This is despite the fact that many of its actual roads rate as "high stress" due to having high speed limits. 

The second best location is Alice Springs, which has a rating of 51, followed by Sunshine with a rating of 46. 


At the other end of the rankings, Port Macquarie is identified as the worst city for biking in Australia with a rating of just 24. This is followed by Townsville with 25 and Central Coast with 27. 

There has been historical reluctance to introduce bike infrastructure in cities across Australia, with moves to do so often controversial due to the perceived impact on driving. This is why even popular international destinations such as greater Sydney have a poor rating of just 29. 


The overall findings are subpar compared to other countries. Australian towns and cities have an average rating of just 34, compared to an impressive 78 for the Netherlands. When looking at individual examples, places such as Paris (87), the Hague (89), and Munich (85) really show just how far behind Australian towns and cities are when it comes to bicycling. This is partly explained by the fact that almost all cities in Australia have high speed limits. 


“With the release of our latest City Ratings, we're excited to highlight how  Australian cities rank for the caliber of their bike infrastructure. Canberra leads the way with its impressive network of shared paths, setting a benchmark for the country,” said PeopleForBikes President and CEO Jenn Dice. "This comes at a crucial time, as the Australian Government's unprecedented $100 million investment in active travel next year promises to create safer and more connected communities. We hope this data will empower local advocates and policymakers to champion  the necessary infrastructure that promotes zero-emissions travel and enhances the quality of life for all residents.”

Canberra Comes Out on Top as Best City for Biking in Australia

Every year, PeopleForBikes releases the results of its City Ratings, a data-driven program that evaluates, identifies, and compares the best global cities and towns for bicycling. Using this data, we help city leaders pinpoint improvements to make biking better and safer for everyone in their communities.

City Ratings scores are generated using PeopleForBikes’ Bicycle Network Analysis, which you can learn more about here. High-scoring cities often perform well across six factors captured in the acronym SPRINT: safe speeds, protected bike lanes, reallocated space for biking and walking, intersection treatments, network connections, and trusted data.

For 2023, we rated 1,484 cities of all sizes throughout the U.S. and 249 international cities on the quality of their bike networks. Each city receives a City Ratings score on a scale of 0-100. A low score (0-20) indicates a weak bike network, meaning the city lacks safe bikeways or there are gaps in the network. A high score (80-100) indicates that most common destinations are accessible by safe, comfortable bike routes that serve people of all ages and abilities. For larger cities, a score of 50 is the tipping point to becoming a great place to bike.

With so much data to sort through, we created this summary report to showcase how the program works alongside high-level takeaways from this year’s ratings.




For 2023, the top-scoring small, medium, and large U.S. cities for bicycling are: Provincetown, Massachusetts; Davis, California; and Minneapolis, Minnesota. Minneapolis, Minnesota, saw a tremendous increase in its score over last year, improving 31 points between 2022 and 2023, landing at the #1 spot in large U.S. cities for this year. 

Newcomers to the top 10 include Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a large city that improved its ratings score from 35 out of 100 in 2022 to 45 out of 100 in 2023. That jump also helped Wisconsin see a substantial rise in ridership as well. Eco-Counter data shows that ridership growth in the state outpaced the rest of the Midwest region: On the weekends, there are 20% more rides happening across Wisconsin than there were in 2019 and weekday rides are up 27%.  

Longmont, Colorado, also edged its way into the top 10 medium cities, improving its score from 36 in 2022 to 59 in 2023. Among small cities, Blue Diamond, Nevada; Murdock, Nebraska; Shorewood, Wisconsin; and Mifflinburg, Pennsylvania, are all new to City Ratings and earned top 10 spots for 2023. Jackson, Wyoming, also moved into the top 10 small cities for the first time this year.


The average score among all U.S. cities is 23 out of 100. Cities in the top 10 score 55 out of 100 on average.


Five percent of U.S. cities score 50 or higher in this year’s City Ratings, with 50 being the threshold score for becoming a great place for bicycling. Meanwhile, more than half of U.S. cities score between 10 and 30.


Among medium and large cities with more than 50,000 residents, the top-scoring city in each state ranged from Davis, California (77) to Cheyenne, Wyoming (7).

Speed limits play a large role in City Ratings scores, and a growing number of cities across the U.S. are lowering speeds to make their roads safer. Slightly more than half of U.S. cities have speed limits of 25 mph or less on residential roads, while the remaining cities with speed limits of 30 mph or greater on residential roads could improve the safety of their bike network by reducing travel speeds.

Roads outside of residential areas also benefit from speed limit reductions, alone or in combination with other safety improvements such as upgrading bicycle infrastructure. The chart below summarizes the bike infrastructure needed on local roads based on their speed limits to improve a city’s score. 

Now in our sixth year of City Ratings, multiple years of data allow us to see changes in the quality of cities’ bike networks over time. Data quality has improved over the years as well, which is reflected in score changes. The chart below illustrates five years of data measuring the quality of bike networks among this year’s top 10 large cities.

More than just data, PeopleForBikes utilizes its City Ratings program to benchmark cities’ progress on improving the quality and connectivity of their bike networks as well as establish best practices for city leaders, decision-makers, and advocates to identify improvements to be made in their communities, ultimately making bicycling better for everyone.

A city’s bike network consists of all of the roads and bikeable paths that are part of the city’s transportation system. PeopleForBikes’ City Ratings program scores the quality of cities’ bike networks on a scale of 0 (poor) to 100 (excellent). 

Good bike networks share characteristics with good roads for driving and good sidewalks for walking: they provide dedicated space separate from other travel modes, they are designed to maintain reasonable speeds, and they are interconnected, meaning people can seamlessly travel everywhere they need to go without running into dead ends or gaps.

Bad bike networks aren’t networks at all. They have no bike infrastructure or contain disconnected fragments of good bike infrastructure, resulting in inefficient and dangerous routes that few people use.


City Ratings measures six factors found in good bike networks: safe speeds, protected bike lanes, reallocated space, intersection treatments, network connections, and trusted data, all captured by the acronym SPRINT.

High motor vehicle speeds lead to more crashes, serious injuries, and fatalities. People riding bikes and driving can safely mix when speeds are 25 mph or less. You can explore our legislative guide to reducing traffic speeds for more information on how to achieve safe speeds in your city.

Example: San Francisco’s (City Ratings score: 64) Slow Streets program models how cities can make shared streets safer through road design that reduces travel speeds.


Protected bike lanes can take many diverse forms, but all provide physical, vertical separation between people bicycling and driving. Most roads with three or more motor vehicle travel lanes or speeds above 30 mph need protected bike lanes. Cities can build protected bike lanes faster by implementing Complete Streets mandates.

Example: Explore the 20 best new protected bike lanes built in the U.S. in 2023. 


Rethinking how street space is used can open a wide range of opportunities to improve a community, from adding bike infrastructure to outdoor restaurant seating and public gathering space. Check out the Urban Design Guide from the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) for recommendations on how to make the most of your city’s street space.

Example: Newton, MA (City Ratings score: 9) is reconfiguring oversized and underutilized Washington Street, which allows the city to add protected bike lanes, motor vehicle turn lanes, bus boarding platforms, crossing enhancements, trees, public art, noise mitigation, and signage.


Good bike networks provide safe crossings. Intersection treatments that create safe crossings include stop signs, traffic signals, crosswalks with flashing lights, roundabouts, crossing islands, and shortened crossing distances. Read NACTO’s Don’t Give Up at the Intersection for strategies to improve intersection safety.

Example: Philadelphia (City Ratings score: 58) recently started construction on the Penrose Roundabout, which will improve safety and traffic flow by replacing a dangerous six-way intersection with a roundabout that includes protected bike lanes, crossing islands, and shortened crossing distances.


Good bike networks connect people to places they want to go. While it takes time to build a complete network, advance planning and secure funding can ensure every local infrastructure project grows the network. Find strategies to fund your city’s bike network in our legislative guide to funding bike infrastructure. 

Example: Great bike plans are transforming bike networks in these nine U.S. cities.


A lack of quality data on bike infrastructure in many U.S. cities complicates efforts to establish bike network goals and measure progress. City Ratings relies on OpenStreetMap data to fill the gap. View our OpenStreetMap Editing Guide and OpenStreetMap Tag Guidelines to update infrastructure data for your city.

Example: Austin, TX (City Ratings score: 34) maintains detailed documentation of their city’s completed and planned bike infrastructure so they can measure progress towards meeting the city’s bike network goals.


Cities that consistently implement projects that address the SPRINT factors will see their City Ratings score rise over time through the growth and improvement of their bike network. Bike network growth will then lead to higher bike ridership, stronger communities, and greater safety for all road users.

Photo Credit: Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority

PeopleForBikes’ 2024 City Ratings feature comprehensive rankings for more than 2,500 cities from across the world on the quality of their bike networks. With seven years of City Ratings results, we’ve tracked the progress of cities nationwide on improving bicycling in their communities. This year, we’re proud to celebrate Cities on the Rise, all of which improved their City Ratings scores in recent years thanks to investments in making their streets safe, fun, and connected places to ride. 


Three of our 2024 Cities on the Rise share a common trait outside of their dedication to better biking — they’re all Midwest college towns. Ames, Iowa, increased its City Ratings score from 40 (out of a possible 100) in 2020 to 66 in 2024; Madison, Wisconsin, improved its score from 50 in 2020 to 58 in 2024; and Ann Arbor, Michigan, rose from a score of 40 in 2020 to a score of 46 in 2024.


Public input plays a significant role in the planning and improvement of Ames' bike network. Photo Credit: Toole Design

Home of Iowa State University, nearly half of Ames’ population is college students, with an enrollment of 30,177 in fall of 2023. With such a large non-driving population, Ames wants to make sure everyone has safe options for getting around.

“From a planning and zoning perspective, our housing, services, and other facilities are heavily driven by the student population,” says Damion Pregitzer, traffic engineer for the City of Ames. “For a lot of trips during the week, students are walking or biking from where they live to class and other destinations.”


In response to the need for safe biking routes, Ames’ recent five-year Capital Improvements Plan includes a significant chunk of funding for bike projects, with an average of at least $1.3 million allocated to bike infrastructure improvements each year. Ames is also lucky enough to be considered a metropolitan area in Iowa, giving city officials access to better transportation planning tools to evaluate street stress levels and direct funding to areas most in need of investment. 


“As a university town, we’ve always supported new technologies,” Pregitzer says. “All of our signalized intersections have advanced bike and ped detection. There’s no intersection in town that cannot be activated by a pedestrian or bike.”


When it comes to what lessons Ames can offer other cities looking to improve, Pregitzer says slow and steady wins the race.

“The big thing is trying to make steady progress. Other communities in Iowa have tried to do one big flashy project that costs a lot of money, but that’s not what makes the change,” he says. “Look where your gaps are in your network and prioritize them. Find that unmet need where folks can/should bike and walk and put in the infrastructure where it benefits people the most.”

Wisconsin’s capital city is also home to the state’s largest university, with more than 48,000 students attending University of Wisconsin Madison. Sandwiched between two large lakes, there are only a few ways to get in and out of the downtown city core, an issue that bikes can play a key role in solving.

“Decades ago, the city decided there wouldn’t be a freeway into the city center. More recently, the city said publicly what everyone already knew — you cannot have everyone drive into the city center, so you have to prioritize other transportation,” says Robbie Webber, who serves on the board of directors for Madison Bikes, a local bike advocacy group. “With a huge number of people trying to access a small amount of space squeezed between two lakes, you have to find ways to move people around.”

When it comes to the great work Madison has done to improve biking in recent years, Webber points to the dedication of city leadership in championing the power of bikes.


“There have been a lot of infrastructure projects, but one of the big changes that took place was in 2019 when we elected our new mayor who believes in prioritizing transportation other than driving. We also hired a transportation director who is a year-round bike commuter and understands personally what is needed to make the city bike friendly,” Webber says. “A lot of our city staff are on their bikes every day, and you can’t get that knowledge just from talking to people. You have to live it.”


As a city alder, Webber also says the voices and opinions of community members play a big role in moving bike initiatives forward. She points out that too often, the only people coming to local meetings are those against a certain project, and that Bike Madison has put a lot of effort into getting those in favor of pro-bike projects to attend meetings and make their support known.


“You never know when your words or actions are going to inspire someone else,” she says. “You could be at a neighborhood meeting saying, ‘I bike to work, and this new bike lane is important to me.’ That could push someone else to say ‘Hey, I care too!’”


In response to one of the most common arguments against the installation of bike infrastructure — Why would we install a bike lane here? No one bikes on this street! — Webber offers up some delightfully cheeky words of wisdom, “Well, you don’t decide where to put in a community swimming pool by seeing where people are showing up with swimsuits.”


For other local advocates looking to make a difference in their communities, Webber says you can’t be afraid to speak up — communicate how people can get involved and make their voices heard.

Despite a strong local bike culture, there was not a single protected bike lane on the streets of Ann Arbor five years ago. Following the success of a two-way protected bike lane installed on William Street in the fall of 2019, the city recognized the real potential of giving people more options to move around outside of getting in the car and began building out its bike network.

Today, miles of protected bike lanes and countless gallons of green paint later, Ann Arbor is seeing its hard work pay off. 

“I’ve been able to utilize Ann Arbor’s new bikeways to get to and from school,” says Amy Boeving, a recent high school graduate who will be attending the University of Michigan later this year. “I feel really comfortable biking in Ann Arbor, thanks to the visibility with green paint, bollards, and two-way bike lanes, it’s become really easy to navigate.”

“There’s been a groundswell of local enthusiasm for bicycling,” adds Doug French, who does communications work for the Bike Alliance of Washtenaw, a local advocacy group. “There’s a lot of momentum and people caring about making the city more bike friendly.”


With the development of a citywide transportation plan — Ann Arbor Moving Together Towards Vision Zero — Nate Phipps, a co-founder of the Bike Alliance of Washtenaw, says the expansion of Ann Arbor’s bike network has included a lot of thoughtful decision making.

“The creation of new bike lanes is not coincidental. If even one block of your commute feels dangerous, you’re not going to bike,” Phipps says, noting the importance of filling in network gaps to make sure everyone feels comfortable moving around by bike. “We are really focused on the continuity and connectivity of our bike lanes.”


Like many cities across the Midwest, Ann Arbor certainly isn’t known for what most people would consider ideal “biking weather” during the winter months. But that doesn’t stop locals from continuing to get on their bikes 12 months out of the year.

“You don’t need good weather to have a good bike community,” says Suzette Wanninkhof, an organizer of Ann Arbor’s Bike Party, which has been bringing cycling enthusiasts together for community group rides for the last 10 years. “We even hold a ‘Worst Day of the Year Ride’ every January. There’s so much you can do to keep the fun going all year long.”

These Midwest College Towns Are Making Big Strides for Better Biking

Featured image: Efforts like these separated bike lanes in Inman Square helped Cambridge meet the requirements of their Cycling Safety Ordinance, which demands the creation of such lanes. (Photo credit: Jonathan Berk)

Throughout this blog series, we dive into the legislative arm of The Great Bike Infrastructure Project, exploring policies — like Complete Streets mandates — that accelerate the construction of bike infrastructure while also highlighting states and municipalities that are successfully putting these policies into action. PeopleForBikes’ Legislative Guide for Safe and Connected Bike Infrastructure is a valuable resource, showcasing the most effective ways to advance bike infrastructure through state and local legislation. 


Complete Streets is an approach to road design that meets the needs of all road users: people walking, biking, rolling, using public transit, and driving. Imagine a streetscape with well-maintained sidewalks, safe street crossings, physically protected bike lanes, comfortable and accessible transit stops, street trees, landscaping, and traffic-calming measures that prevent drivers from speeding. It's a holistic vision that transforms streets into comfortable, livable, and inclusive spaces.


To ensure streets reflect these principles, communities and state agencies across the country are adopting Complete Streets mandates. So what are Complete Streets mandates? While some policies can be vague and lead to less certain outcomes, Complete Streets mandates provide a legal foundation, ensuring the principles are applied consistently across all projects. We’ve all seen well-meaning policies that ask transportation departments or local planning offices to “consider the needs” of people walking, biking, and taking transit. Unfortunately, without clear requirements, these policies usually end up collecting dust on a shelf. Complete Streets mandates, on the other hand, ensure that every road construction or renovation project incorporates safe infrastructure for all road users. Successful mandates boast clear project selection criteria, limited exceptions, strong design requirements, transparent reporting mechanisms, and prioritize underrepresented communities to improve transportation equity.


The Benefits of Complete Streets Mandates

Complete Streets mandates have far-reaching impacts on communities, ranging from improved safety for all transportation modes to positive economic returns. 


Road Safety — By prioritizing safety over speed, incorporating protected bike lanes or road-adjacent trails, and accommodating pedestrian safety improvements, Complete Streets mandates play a pivotal role in addressing the growing road safety crisis in the U.S.

Transportation Equity — Complete Streets mandates are a powerful strategy for enhancing equity in transportation planning. When done well, these mandates prioritize infrastructure investments in underserved communities, helping meet the needs of people who do not or cannot drive by increasing affordable transportation access to jobs, essential services, recreational opportunities, and more. 

Economic Benefits — Contrary to common misconceptions, Complete Streets projects tend to be less expensive than traditional road construction projects and deliver more benefits. Well-designed Complete Streets projects also contribute to economic vitality by boosting retail sales, creating jobs, reducing healthcare costs, and more.

Public Health — Complete Streets mandates promote physical activity and improve overall health. By creating walkable and bikeable neighborhoods, these mandates contribute to healthier communities and a more sustainable healthcare system.


Learn more about these benefits in our Supplemental Guide for Complete Streets Mandates, which includes data-backed talking points to help you advocate for change in your community. 

Approaches for adopting Complete Streets mandates vary from community to community and state to state, ranging from ballot measures to city council-approved ordinances to department-issued directives. These examples provide tangible evidence of the benefits and feasibility of implementing Complete Streets mandates, offering insights into successful strategies, potential challenges, and best practices. By studying examples from other agencies, policymakers and advocates can tailor their own initiatives to local needs and circumstances. 

In 2019, the Cambridge City Council in Massachusetts approved the Cycling Safety Ordinance, mandating the creation of separated bike lanes on specific streets during street reconstructions. In 2020, amendments to the ordinance set specific timelines and mileage goals. Thanks to the ordinance, Cambridge achieved one of the most significant increases in our City Ratings program, soaring from a score of 31 in 2018 to an impressive 58 in 2023. To measure compliance, each year, the city must submit a progress report to the city council outlining its achievement in bike infrastructure.

Building upon their Healthy Transportation Policy and Separated Bike Lane Planning and Design Guide, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) introduced a new statewide directive to enhance accessibility and safety in 2020. This directive includes three new "controlling criteria" that ensure all state-managed road reconstruction projects (as well as municipal-led projects that use state funding) include ADA-accessible pedestrian facilities, high-quality bikeways, bus shelters, crosswalks, and transit-priority infrastructure along significant transit routes. Specifically, it requires the construction of bike infrastructure on most state-controlled roads where bikes are permitted by law. Furthermore, separation from vehicular traffic is required on roads with speed limits of 40 mph or higher, volumes of 10,000 or more vehicles per hour, multiple travel lanes in one direction, or those identified as having a high potential for everyday biking. Minimum width requirements for bike lanes are also stipulated.

To facilitate the implementation of these criteria, MassDOT also streamlined internal processes. Complete Streets staff are now involved earlier in project development, providing feedback during the project initiation, scoping, and 25% design stages. These measures underscore MassDOT's commitment to creating safer, more accessible, and sustainable transportation infrastructure across the state.

In March, nearly two-thirds of Los Angeles voters approved Measure HLA, requiring the city to implement street modifications outlined in its Mobility Plan 2035 whenever street improvements, such as repaving, are made. The city’s Mobility Plan, approved in 2015, regrettably lacked a concrete implementation strategy, an issue that Measure HLA remedies. Once implemented, the plan will improve sidewalks and crosswalks, reduce cut-through traffic on neighborhood streets, improve transit service and stops, create a robust protected bike lane network, and improve traffic flow on critical streets.

In 2019, the California Bicycle Coalition and California State Senator Scott Wiener advocated for the Complete Streets for Active Living Bill, aiming to require the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) to implement its Complete Streets policy. Despite passing the legislature, Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed the bill, citing Caltrans' existing Complete Streets policy as sufficient. Advocates disagreed. 

Citing a lack of progress, advocates and elected officials, led once again by the California Bicycle Coalition and Senator Wiener, introduced SB 960. If passed, SB 960 will make Caltrans' Complete Streets policy a legal requirement, mandating that all road rehabilitation projects incorporate comfortable, convenient, and connected facilities for people walking, biking, and using public transit. Notably, the bill prioritizes underserved communities, including low-income neighborhoods and communities of color which often lack safe infrastructure, streamlines Caltrans' approval process for Complete Streets projects, establishes clear targets and performance metrics, and minimizes exemptions.

To learn more about these examples and case studies from other cities and states, as well as how you can translate them into legislation for your community:


Review our Legislative Guide for Safe and Connected Bike Infrastructure 

Read our Supplemental Guide for Complete Streets Mandates, which includes data-backed talking points to help you advocate for change in your community 


Complete Streets mandates are not just about roads, they're about transforming communities into safer, more equitable, economically vibrant spaces. By understanding and championing Complete Streets principles, we can create a future where everyone can move safely and more people can get where they need to go by bike.


Join our email list to ensure you don’t miss subsequent posts in this blog series, where we’ll provide in-depth insights into advancing bike infrastructure through climate legislation and creating safer streets through speed limits, design guidelines, and intersection improvements.

In order to make our vision of transforming America into the best place in the world to ride a bike a reality, PeopleForBikes is committed to supporting local bike advocacy efforts in communities across the country. To maximize your impact and success, advocates must have a message that resonates with local residents, authentically engages new advocates and the larger community, and builds broad coalitions of support. 

From successfully communicating your message to adopting inclusive approaches to road safety, our Guide to Effective Local Bike Advocacy covers the most essential tactics to help grow bicycling in your backyard. Informed by years of advocacy investments in communities of all sizes, we designed this guide to set your local advocates and advocacy organizations up for success. 

To support your organization's development, assess your strengths, and identify areas for improvement, we also created a self-evaluation scorecard. By honestly evaluating your organization's performance in critical areas, you can create targeted strategies to enhance your impact.

Access PeopleForBikes’ Local Advocacy Self-Evaluation Scorecard

Lead with issues everyone can relate to, even those who don’t bike. Successfully implementing bike infrastructure and policy changes hinges on your ability to garner support from people who might not bike often or at all. The great news is that most people are on board with building quality bike projects, especially when they are part of broader investments like improved roads, sidewalks, parks, and public transit. Why? Because it means more options for getting where you need or want to go, more opportunities for outdoor recreation, and safer streets for everyone, no matter how they choose to travel. 

Start with the problems that bicycling can help solve: road safety for all road users, transportation affordability, public health, economic development, tourism, sustainability, and access to jobs, education, and recreational opportunities. Create talking points that highlight your community's challenges and show how bicycling can be a part of the solution to addressing them. When you focus on value-driven messaging, you’ll gain more support. 

Check out our Bike Advocacy Playbook and supplemental guides for creating bike infrastructure through legislation for talking points and data to help you get started. 

Advocate for a complete transportation network, not just a bike project. When advocates establish and promote a vision for fully connected, comfortable transportation networks, more community members support their work. Complete networks allow everyone, whether they’re walking, rolling, or biking, to move around their community with safety and ease by including safe and comfortable sidewalks, crosswalks, bike lanes, shared-use paths, slow-speed streets, and convenient access to recreational opportunities and transit options. Getting community members to understand the importance of a single bike project can be challenging. By presenting the project within the context of a larger, citywide vision, you’ll help folks connect the dots. 

Learn about the importance of low-stress bike networks and how they impact PeopleForBikes’ City Ratings scores.

List your highest priority projects and policies on your website and highlight them through email, social media, and in-person or virtual meetings. If your organization can only accomplish five things this year, what should they be? What projects and policies are critical to making your community better for bicycling? Publicly sharing your priorities helps unify your supporters around clear goals and lets everyone know how they can best assist you in reaching them.

Community engagement is vital to building bike projects and passing pro-bike policies. While genuine and fair community involvement varies from place to place, some methods work everywhere and are key to increasing trust and equity.

Engage early, often, and in creative ways to establish a continuous dialogue within the community. A proactive approach to engagement is key. The first time community members hear about a bike project should not be when it is about to be implemented. Embrace engagement methods like Open Streets events, inclusive community rides, canvassing teams, and field ambassadors that attend community events to meet people where they are instead of expecting them to come to you. This approach demonstrates a commitment to inclusivity and enhances the effectiveness of your engagement strategies by reaching a broader audience.

Check out 5 Ways to Boost Community Engagement in Bike Advocacy.

Make sure your meetings are accessible. Are your meetings held in locations and at times that accommodate all individuals, making them feel welcome and capable of attending? Have you thought about child care, food, translation services, and wheelchair access? Ensuring inclusivity in the logistical aspects of your engagement efforts is a fundamental step toward fostering more diverse and representative participation.


Develop a diverse, inclusive coalition. In building a coalition, it's crucial to consider the composition of your group. Take a moment to reflect on whether your coalition primarily consists of confident "avid cyclists" or if it includes a diverse representation of casual riders, women, people of all ages, and individuals reflecting the broader demographic spectrum of your city. If the latter is not the case, your local advocacy group may need to work towards being more inclusive to address your community's varied needs and garner broader support. 

Effective advocacy coalitions also collaborate with voices outside of bike advocacy. Pedestrian advocacy groups, public transportation advocacy groups, youth groups, climate justice advocates, and even allies from places like the skateboarding community can all be valuable partners. For local advocacy organizations to grow and thrive, embracing diverse perspectives, even from those who may not currently engage in biking, is essential. By finding common ground and fostering a coalition that spans a range of interests, you can create a more robust movement advocating for improved recreational and transportation opportunities accessible to all.

Adopt an inclusive approach to road safety. While making our streets safe is a top priority, relying solely on enforcement doesn’t address people’s varied experiences with law enforcement. Advocates have the opportunity to push for an environment where biking is safe and accessible for everyone — including people of all ages, abilities, incomes, and backgrounds. An inclusive approach to road safety considers the various factors that contribute to a person's experience, fostering a biking culture that is welcoming and accommodating to everyone in the community.

Work with community members to ensure infrastructure investments are done in an equitable way across all neighborhoods. To achieve this, it's essential to identify the locations where your community has already constructed bike projects as well as areas that have suffered negative impacts from highways and unsafe pedestrian infrastructure. If neighborhoods have experienced exclusion or bike projects have mainly been built in affluent areas, it's imperative to actively work toward creating an equitable distribution of investments. This may involve reevaluating project locations in collaboration with local community members from impacted areas and advocating for more resources in historically underserved areas to understand and rectify those decisions' negative impacts on the community. 

USDOT’s Reconnecting Communities Program funds projects in disadvantaged communities that enhance access to employment, education, healthcare, food, and recreation; promote equitable development; and reconnect neighborhoods by removing or mitigating the impacts of highways or other transportation facilities that previously created social and physical barriers. 

You can utilize USDOT guidance to understand what neighborhoods are considered disadvantaged in your area. 

Mayors and other local elected officials greenlight projects and shape community vision. City, state, and county staff develop projects and policies and execute plans. You’ll need good relationships with all of these stakeholders to get things done. Looking for an effective way to garner their support? Invite them to go for a walk or hop on a bike. Spending time together on a ride (or two feet) offers firsthand insights into your community's challenges and opportunities and is a great way to build trust and lasting relationships. 


Cultivating positive relationships with local media is crucial to gaining fair and positive coverage of your projects and policies. Actively engage with reporters covering transportation or community issues. Provide them with well-researched information on the positive impacts of bike projects and policies and help facilitate access to community members who can speak to these issues. Be ready with clear and concise messages highlighting the community benefits for all road users, utilizing statistics, case studies, and local anecdotes. Organize media events or press conferences to showcase progress and encourage community members to share their first-hand experiences. By maintaining open communication with media representatives, you can become their go-to person and influence public perception to support your priorities.

Having a Level 5 leader is crucial for your organization’s success. Coined by Jim Collins, Level 5 leaders blend personal humility and an often quiet nature with unwavering determination and find success in getting people to follow a cause. Collins' research reveals a consistent pattern: The most successful companies have Level 5 leadership during transformative periods, challenging the sometimes-held belief that larger-than-life personalities are necessary for significant change. This leadership style is particularly relevant in an advocacy setting where the focus should be on the collective cause and community well-being. Moreover, the relentless determination inherent in Level 5 leadership is crucial in navigating the challenges of bike advocacy. 

Read Jim Collins’ Good to Great to learn more about Level 5 leaders.


LEGISLATION THAT GETS MORE BIKE INFRASTRUCTURE BUILT + MORE PEOPLE RIDING

Support transformative policy changes. One of the best ways to create a stronger advocacy base in your community is to get more people riding bikes by building safer and convenient places for them to ride.

PeopleForBikes’ Legislative Strategies for Safe and Connected Bike Infrastructure identifies the most effective state and local legislative changes that lead to great bike infrastructure. It includes diverse examples from communities and states across the country, including links to existing language and tips for adjusting language to suit your community’s needs. The four priorities identified in the guide are as follows:  

Passing state and local funding mechanisms for bike infrastructure

Advancing bike infrastructure through climate legislation

Improving road safety through reduced vehicular speeds, new design guidelines, and intersection safety improvements

Our supplemental guides include data-backed talking points to help you advocate for these changes in your community.  

UNLOCK YOUR COMMUNITY’S POTENTIAL WITH PEOPLEFORBIKES’ TOOLS + RESOURCES

Join Our Email List — Stay up to date with our newsletters and advocacy alerts to support biking in your community. 

City Ratings — Measure your community’s progress in becoming a great place for bikes and benchmark against other cities worldwide.

National Bike Project Tracker — Make sure your priority projects are in our public database of planned and proposed bike projects so we can connect local supporters to your work.

Legislative Guide to Advancing Bike Infrastructure — Dive into state and local strategies to create safe and connected bike infrastructure. Our supplemental guides include more details, including talking points to help advocate. 

SPRINT — Increase your City Ratings score and turn high-stress streets into low-stress streets using our SPRINT framework.

Your Bike Advocacy Playbook — Explore our 15-point, research-based fact sheet to help you push for change in your community.

VoteForBikes — PeopleForBikes can promote pro-bike measures on your local or state ballots.

Advocacy Alerts — Rally PeopleForBikes’ supporters around projects and policies in your community.

E-Bike Smart — Use our rider education program to help people of all ages and experience levels learn best practices for safe, responsible riding. For more information, check out our other e-bike tools and resources, including our E-Bike Incentive Toolkit and Model E-Bike Legislation framework. 

Community Grants — Apply for PeopleForBikes funding to support a local bike project near you.

PeopleForBikes’ Guide to Effective Local Bike Advocacy

PeopleForBikes works to empower businesses, suppliers, manufacturers, and retailers across the bike industry to help grow opportunities for more people to ride bikes more often and shape a better future for the next generation of riders. By working with PeopleForBikes, you can help build a more connected and bikeable world right in your own backyard.

Know your community’s City Ratings score. PeopleForBikes’ City Ratings program measures communities' progress in creating safe and connected bike networks. The score’s recreational component measures access to parks, trails, and pump tracks. 

Champion infrastructure projects in your community. Our National Bike Project Tracker, part of the Great Bike Infrastructure Project, highlights planned bike projects across the country. Identify nearby projects you’re passionate about and help get them across the finish line. If you know about a project that isn't in our tracker, let us know.

Connect with state and local advocacy groups in your area and ask how you can help projects get funded and built. Find your nearest advocacy group here. 

Consider giving your employees a volunteer day to support local advocacy groups or encourage them to attend important public meetings to advocate for better bike infrastructure.

Sponsor an event like a community bike ride or an open streets event to support the efforts of your local advocacy group.

Join a local business association to emphasize the economic benefits of bikeable communities and encourage their support of bike projects near you. 

Ask your employees and customers to join PeopleForBikes’ newsletter to receive advocacy alerts to support bicycling projects and pro-bike policies in their communities.  


Cultivate local donors to support PeopleForBikes’ work improving bicycling nationwide.

Host a fundraiser and encourage your network and customers to donate and help PeopleForBikes advance bicycling in your community.

Send a fundraising email to your customers on behalf of PeopleForBikes. 


PeopleForBikes’ has numerous valuable resources to help guide your advocacy efforts:  

The PeopleForBikes Bike Advocacy Playbook provides 15 arguments for better biking with links to dozens of talking points and studies. 

PeopleForBikes’ Guide to Effective Local Bike Advocacy offers strategies to ensure your advocacy efforts have a lasting impact.

PeopleForBikes’ Legislative Guide for Safe and Connected Infrastructure highlights the most effective legislative strategies to improve local bike infrastructure:

Passing state and local funding for bike infrastructure 

Adopting Complete Streets mandates that require safe bike infrastructure as part of road projects

Use talking points from our supplemental guides for each policy area to help push for change in your community.

If projects or policies are at risk, let us know. We can rally support through letters to local officials, PeopleForBikes Advocacy Alerts, and our VoteForBikes campaign. 

Your involvement as a member of the bike industry is crucial in shaping bikeable communities. Thank you for being an essential part of the movement to transform the U.S. into the best place in the world to ride a bike. Together, we can make biking safe and accessible for everyone nationwide and welcome more people to the joys and benefits of riding.

For more information and support, reach out to a PeopleForBikes expert:

Martina Haggerty, Senior Director of Local Innovation — martina@peopleforbikes.org

Dave Snyder, Senior Director for Infrastructure — dave@peopleforbikes.org

Own Your Backyard: An Industry Guide to Supporting Local Bike Infrastructure

The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) recently awarded $3.3 billion through the Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhoods Program to fund projects that reconnect neighborhoods long divided by highways, railroad tracks, and other transportation barriers. More than just infrastructure funding, this program represents a monumental opportunity to use bike infrastructure to bridge physical and social gaps while fostering equity and revitalization in communities across the U.S.

For decades, highways, urban renewal, and practices like redlining have isolated communities, severing vital connections to job centers, businesses, parks, schools, and community resources. The repercussions of such division have been profound, particularly for Areas of Persistent Poverty and Historically Disadvantaged Communities, which are often disproportionately affected by underinvestment, isolation, and pollution. From adding new transit routes to capping highways and constructing new bridges and bike paths, projects funded through the Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhoods Program are critical in reversing the impacts of this damage, knitting together neighborhoods, and increasing access to important destinations for people walking, biking, and using public transit. 

With more than 1,400 bike projects proposed or planned nationwide, the demand for bike infrastructure is clear. Initiatives like Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhoods Program provide much-needed funding to these projects, building on other federal programs funding bike infrastructure like the Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A), Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE), Recreational Trails, Highway Safety Improvement, and Surface Transportation Block Grant programs. 

To learn more about proposed or planned bike projects in your community, check out PeopleForBikes’ National Bike Project Tracker, part of our Great Bike Infrastructure Project.

Of the 132 awarded projects, at least 60 include bike infrastructure, spanning nearly 30 states from coast to coast featuring a wide variety of urban, rural, and tribal communities. Below are a few of the projects that will open bike infrastructure access to millions of Americans in the coming years thanks to funding from this program:

I-395 Underdeck and Heritage Trail | Miami, Florida

Through the I-395 Underdeck and Heritage Trail Project, the Florida Department of Transportation aims to transform a highway barrier by creating a 33-acre public open space and trail system beneath Interstate 395, uniting previously divided neighborhoods.

Brickline Greenway Midtown I-64 Crossing | St. Louis, Missouri

The Brickline Greenway initiative in St. Louis aims to unite neighborhoods through accessible multi-use paths, addressing historical racial disparities and reconnecting 14 predominantly Black neighborhoods impacted by the construction of Interstate 64. As part of the project, the Midtown I-64 Crossing will increase access to jobs, services, and economic opportunities, while the 10-mile greenway network will further connect to parks, business districts, and cultural institutions.

Image credit : Travis Crabtree (Tree Design Co / Jackson Heart Foundation)

The Museum Trail planning project in Jackson, Mississippi, seeks to extend a multi-use trail and greenway linking cultural, economic, educational, and recreational assets across the city currently divided by highways and arterial roadways. This project phase will extend the trail through downtown and West Jackson.

Vision 2028 Plan | Los Angeles, California

In Los Angeles, grant funding will support 60 new Metro Bike Share stations, 37 miles of bus corridor improvements, and help fill gaps in the city’s active transportation network to improve neighborhood connectivity. 

Twinbrook Pedestrian and Bicycle Bridge | Rockville, Maryland

The construction of a new pedestrian and bicycle crossing bridge in Rockville will reconnect the city’s Twinbrook neighborhood to employment areas and retail amenities along Rockville Pike, the city's primary commercial hub. 

Atlanta BeltLine to Flint River Trail |  Atlanta, Georgia

Image credit: Atlanta Regional Commission

The BeltLine to Flint River Trail will connect communities, schools, job centers, MARTA stations, and bike infrastructure, building on the success of the Atlanta BeltLine while fostering economic growth.


Manhattan Trail System | Gallatin, Montana 

The Manhattan Trail System study in southwestern Montana will explore the feasibility of a multi-use trail to connect the rural communities of Manhattan, Logan, and Three Forks. 

Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe Bike Path | Pyramid Lake Reservation, Nevada

The Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe will construct a new bike path along an old railroad bed to connect the remote communities of Sutcliffe, Nixon, and Wadsworth on the Pyramid Lake Reservation in Nevada. This new facility will improve connectivity within the tribal communities, enhance access to recreational areas, support economic development, and create opportunities for cultural interpretation and learning about the Tribe's heritage.

Image credit: New York State Department of Transportation

The I-81 Project in Syracuse, New York, includes the creation of new bike paths and multimodal improvements to increase connections, enhance safety, and boost economic opportunity in Downtown Syracuse and surrounding neighborhoods. The new bike infrastructure is part of the larger project to replace the elevated Interstate 81 highway with over 100 acres of new neighborhood streets, development, and parks. 

Uniting Neighborhoods and Transit Opportunities | Everett, Massachusetts

This planning grant will allow the City of Everett to study the feasibility of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and commuter rail expansion, as well as new bike connections to the nearby Northern Strand and Wellington Trails, mitigating environmental and health concerns in an underserved community.

Walnut Cove Greenway | Walnut Cove, North Carolina

This planning grant will allow the community to advance plans for new trails linking East Walnut Cove Community Park to downtown.

Virginia Beach Trail Phase 1 | Virginia Beach, Virginia

As part of the Virginia Beach Trail project, this grant will fund the construction of a 3.2-mile shared-use path along a former railroad right-of-way, promoting equitable access to transportation, enhancing pedestrian and bicycle safety, and reconnecting underserved communities with economic opportunities. Phase I of the project extends through Virginia Beach’s town center, with future phases aiming to connect to the oceanfront. 

The success of the Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhoods Program marks a pivotal moment in addressing long-standing disparities and divisions in communities nationwide. As momentum grows and more communities join the movement to repair past harms, it heralds a promising future where our streets serve as vibrant spaces for all and bike infrastructure is used to help reconnect communities and foster equity.

Federal Grants Help Bike Projects Reconnect Communities 

This article about funding bike infrastructure is part of a series about the first and most important strategy promoted by PeopleForBikes’ Legislative Strategies Guide, a program of our Great Bike Infrastructure Project. Other strategies include mandating Complete Streets, centering bicycling as a solution to our climate challenge, and creating safer streets by lowering speeds, using modern design guidelines, and prohibiting right turns on red. 

Funding from local and state government sources is essential for the development of bike infrastructure in communities nationwide for three main reasons:

Those funds can unlock some of the $13 billion available in federal funding that can support the construction of bike infrastructure, as much of that federal money requires a local match.

Federal funding alone often isn’t enough to make the necessary impact.

State and local funding for bike infrastructure projects is easier to secure. 


The chart below shows the proportion of funding from each level of government in California and Virginia.

Finally, and fortunately, local support for bicycling is strong. Typically, policymakers at more local levels can see how bike infrastructure directly improves their communities and allocate much larger proportions of funding to bicycling than their federal counterparts. PeopleForBikes’ Legislative Strategies Guide includes talking points to further strengthen the case for local funding. 

Our legislative guide includes a comprehensive look at more than a dozen strategies that are available to fund bike infrastructure at the local and state levels. It gives examples of language used by policymakers and points to success stories across the country for each of the following sources:


Transportation Infrastructure Financing Districts

General Obligation (GO) Bonds represent a cornerstone for public infrastructure development. By backing projects with the full faith and credit of the issuing entity, these bonds have facilitated landmark initiatives, including the $460 million “Safe Mobility For All” bond approved by voters in Austin, Texas, in 2020. 


Local sales taxes can raise massive amounts of funding, but state authorization may be required. Our legislative guide shows how policymakers in Georgia negotiated with stakeholders at the state level in order to eventually approve millions of dollars at the local level. Gas taxes are historically an important source of revenue, but as more cars go electric, road tolls and congestion fees will increase in importance. 


Some states use climate mitigation programs to fund bike infrastructure. Special districts, such as transportation-focused tax increment financing districts, business improvement districts, and parking benefit districts, can be important sources of funding. Sacramento, California, has an innovative strategy to fund infrastructure through developer fees. Massachusetts mitigates the impact of rideshare services by charging a fee on all rideshare trips and using that fee to support safety improvements.


People for Bikes

Bike Networks

PeopleForBikes at Work on Bike Networks

News

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2023’s Best Places to Bike

What Makes a Good Bike Network?

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The Power of Complete Streets Mandates

PeopleForBikes’ Guide to Effective Local Bike Advocacy

Own Your Backyard: An Industry Guide to Supporting Local Bike Infrastructure

Federal Grants Help Bike Projects Reconnect Communities

Paving the Way for Complete Bike Networks: The Essential Role of State and Local Funding

2024’s Most Improved Cities for Biking

Boost Your City Ratings Score With These Four Policies

Bicycling Is Improving in Cities Across the U.S.

Bikeable Hometowns: PeopleForBikes Staff Celebrate Their City Ratings Scores

Utrecht's Constant Commitment to Make Biking Better

London Leads the UK in Safe and Connected Places to Bike, but England Still Lags Behind Europe

Advancing Bike Infrastructure Through Climate Legislation

How Pro-Bike Policies Transformed Cambridge, Massachusetts, Into a Top City for Biking

Investments in Infrastructure and Community Make Salt Lake City a Great Place to Bike

Why is Bike Infrastructure Important?

What It’s Like To Ride in a Top-Rated Bike City

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