California Polytechnic State University
IN-14: Bicycle Friendly University

In late 2017 Cal Poly was named a Bicycle Friendly University by the League of American Bicyclists, recognizing the university’s work toward projects, policies and programs that exhibit a strong commitment to cycling. Cal Poly was recognized for the first time as a bronze-level Bicycle Friendly University, joining a cutting-edge group of more than 180 colleges and universities across the U.S. that are providing more bicycle-friendly campuses for the benefit of students, staff, faculty and community members.

The Bicycle Friendly University Program evaluated universities’ efforts to promote bicycling in five areas: engineering, encouragement, education, enforcement and evaluation/planning. With about 7,515 bicycle parking spaces on campus, Cal Poly currently provides one bike spot for every three people who study or work on campus. Bike commuters can find a variety of places to lock their bike — including covered bike parking and long-term storage over academic breaks — as well as reduced speed limits on campus streets, car-free zones and bright-green bike lanes.

Bicycle safety information is distributed annually to incoming students, faculty and staff, as well as during an annual bike auction held by the University Police Department. Cal Poly promotes “bike pooling” to help new riders identify safe routes to campus during national bike month in May and awards quarterly incentives to staff and faculty who post their commutes in SLO Regional Rideshare’s Back ‘N’ Forth Club.

Cal Poly’s Bike and Pedestrian Safety Committee — composed of law enforcement, student government, student civil engineers, faculty and staff — serves as the university’s advocacy group and clearinghouse for bike-related issues and growth planning. Campus officials are also exploring options to bring a bike-sharing program to campus.

In addition, Transportation and Parking Services and ASI partnered to fund $48,000 worth of new bike racks in the 2017-18 academic year. Many of the 500 additional bike parking spaces were added during fall quarter to key areas around campus, with the rest to be placed during winter break or early in winter quarter.

The ASI Craft Center also offers weekly bicycle repair classes and twice-weekly bike advice classes and has five bike repair stands that students can use whenever the Craft Center is open. Bike repair items, including tubes, patch kits and cables, are also available for purchase.

Cal Poly will maintain its 2017 award through 2021, at which time the university can reapply to the Bicycle Friendly University program to either maintain or improve its award status.

There are 17 Bicycle Friendly Universities in California, the most of any state in the U.S. There are now 182 Bicycle Friendly Universities in 45 states and Washington, D.C.