This fall, as campuses across the country buzz with the energy of a new academic year, the League of American Bicyclists is recognizing 45 colleges and universities that are making biking a core part of campus life. The latest round of Bicycle Friendly University (BFU) awards celebrates institutions that are rising to the challenge: taking feedback seriously, investing in infrastructure, and building partnerships that make biking safer, easier, and more accessible for everyone.
“What stands out about this round of Bicycle Friendly University awards is their commitment to listening, learning, and improving,” said Bill Nesper, executive director of the League of American Bicyclists. “That spirit of progress is helping shape today’s students into tomorrow’s leaders, equipping them to carry on the work of building a more Bicycle Friendly America.”
How the BFU Program Works
Every institution that applies for a Bicycle Friendly University award provides details on bike-related policies, programs, educational initiatives, and infrastructure. Application reviewers carefully assess these submissions, along with local insights shared via campus surveys, to determine the award level. All applicants—whether they merit Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze, Honorable Mention, or No Award—receive a comprehensive feedback report highlighting strengths, areas for improvement, and actionable strategies for future rounds.
This year’s honorees join a network of 204 Bicycle Friendly Universities across 42 states, collectively shaping a national movement to help everyone experience the joy, freedom, and benefits of riding a bike. Colleges and universities are ideal settings to cultivate a pro-bike culture, as many campuses are already high-density areas designed for students to navigate without a car.
Bicycle Friendly Universities stand out for having built upon these advantageous conditions and embracing the joy and enthusiasm that bikes inspire in people, which often has the added benefit of invigorating surrounding communities. Beyond the joy of riding, bikes also address real challenges campuses face: they ease pressure on overcrowded and costly parking lots, support ambitious climate and carbon reduction goals, enhance safety by reducing vehicle traffic, and provide health and wellness benefits for students, faculty, and staff alike.
Progress over Perfection
UC Davis’s new inclusive bike parking standards ensure adaptive bicycles can be securely parked across campus.
The hallmark of the rising BFUs in this round is their momentum: progressing their campus bike initiatives by taking action on the League’s prior feedback. Among the 2025 honorees, the University of California, Davis, retained its long-held Platinum status by acting on the League’s advice to implement inclusive bike parking standards to accommodate tricycles, cargo bikes, and other adaptive cycles. “Bikes are tools to make the world a better place, and we feel immensely lucky to be working together with the League [and the Bicycle Friendly America program] to show people the power of bicycling,” UC Davis shared.
The University of Colorado Boulder also earned Platinum this year, moving up from Gold thanks to a range of initiatives that embed biking in campus culture. These include a mandatory fee that funds both transit and bike infrastructure, free bikeshare memberships for more than 22,000 riders, and year-round biking events like the CU Bike Fest, which celebrates bike joy on campus while increasing access to ridership through on-site maintenance and free refurbished bikes.
But a campus doesn’t need to achieve Platinum status to merit applause. In this round, Illinois State University and California State University, Chico, are great examples of how steady improvement drives results. Both moved up from previous Honorable Mention designations to Bronze this year by taking action on feedback from prior BFU rounds. “We reviewed and implemented quite a few of the recommendations from our 2018 BFU Feedback Report,” said Illinois State University — notably, partnering with the adjacent Town of Normal for a “Pedestrian and Roadway Campus Safety Initiative” that expanded bike networks and improved campus and community safety.
The Power of Community
Richmond Mayor’s Youth Academy participant (working at VCU’s RamBikes for the summer) learns about frame building from a local fabricator.
Partnerships are a key driver of success in the BFU program, helping universities expand their reach and scale up access to safe, enjoyable biking beyond campus borders.
Virginia Commonwealth University, a renewing Gold-level BFU, emphasizes a citywide vision: “We realize that biking is bigger than us. Rather than focus solely on the university population, VCU’s bike program encourages youth and diverse populations across the city to bike more. We hope this will influence the culture of Richmond as a whole.”
The progress recognized in this round of awards is a reminder that every college and university has the power to make biking safer and more accessible. From M State Fergus Falls in Minnesota (700 students) to Arizona State University’s Tempe campus (over 74,000 students), these Bicycle Friendly Universities show that meaningful change for better biking is possible at any scale.
As more campuses join the Bicycle Friendly America movement, the League looks forward to seeing how the ideas and energy of today’s students will transform communities everywhere into places where everyone can ride united with confidence and joy.
Join the Movement
The Bicycle Friendly University program is part of a growing effort to make biking safe, accessible, and enjoyable on campuses and beyond. Universities interested in joining can submit applications for the 2026 BFU round by August 5, 2026
Apply for BFU Status
About the Bicycle Friendly University℠ Program
Bicycle Friendly University awards reflect local leaders’ ongoing work to build better places to bike and evaluate those efforts as part of a national movement. Each of the five levels of the Bicycle Friendly University award – diamond, platinum, gold, silver, and bronze, plus an honorable mention category – provide a clear path for businesses to continuously improve. Visit bikeleague.org/university to learn more about the BFU program.
About the League Of American Bicyclists
Since 1880, the League of American Bicyclists has been people-powered, with a goal to make bicycling safer and easier as a means of transportation and recreation. Today, the League continues to improve lives and strengthen communities through bicycling. We are more than 200,000 members and supporters strong with more than 1,000 state and local advocacy groups and bike clubs as well as thousands of businesses, universities, and communities together leading the movement to create a Bicycle Friendly America for everyone.
