Do You Bike at BU or Want To? New Survey Wants Your Thoughts
Answers to survey questions will help BU renew its Bicycle Friendly University bronze certification—and it’s a chance to be heard about what does and doesn’t work
Bikers at the intersection of Commonwealth Ave and Montfort Street. Photo by Cydney Scott
Do You Bike at BU or Want To? New Survey Wants Your Thoughts
Answers will help BU renew its Bicycle Friendly University bronze certification—and it’s a chance to be heard about what does and doesn’t work
Do you bike on Boston University’s campus? What is it about biking at BU that you like? What can be improved? If you don’t ride a bike on campus, why not? Calling all bicyclists, and wannabe-cyclists—it’s time to let your voice be heard.
From now until November 15, students, faculty, alumni, and staff have the opportunity to weigh in on how BU accommodates its biking population. The survey will help the League of American Bicyclists determine if BU will be recognized again as a Bicycle Friendly University and have its bronze certification renewed. This distinction would acknowledge BU’s efforts to make its campus a safe haven for bikers.
Some steps the University has already taken: increased and improved short-term bike parking options across campus, secure bike parking in newly constructed buildings (Myles Standish Hall, Howard Thurman Center, Kilachand Center, Center for Computing & Data Sciences, etc.), bike repair stations and pumps throughout campus, bike racks on the front of all BU shuttles, and a $25/month Bicycle Commuter Reimbursement Benefit for employees.
BU was awarded a bronze certification for the Medical Campus in 2016 and for the Charles River Campus in 2018, and wants to maintain its record of being a bike-friendly campus. Bicyclists are encouraged to complete the survey to let the League of American Bicyclists know what it’s like to ride a bike at BU.
“We seek this distinction because it evaluates our work against an established blueprint, while also giving prospective students and employees independent verification of our efforts to be bike-friendly,” says Carl Larson, BU Sustainability’s assistant director of transportation demand management and planning. “Just as you can build sustainable structures without LEED certification and make organic cheese without organic certification, you can certainly create a bike-friendly campus without seeking Bicycle Friendly University distinction. But we value the independent assessment that the League of American Bicyclists process provides.”
If BU maintains its bronze status, not much will change for those on campus, but it will let the University know if certain improvements need to be made. “They might see a ‘Bicycle Friendly University’ logo on our new website, but otherwise, probably [no other changes]. This distinction is most valuable to us internally as an evaluation of our work,” says Larson.
Questions asked on the survey include: How often do you ride your bike on campus? Do you feel safe using the bike lanes? What could non-habitual bikers need to feel safe cycling on campus? For those who don’t use a bike to navigate campus, the survey also asks why they don’t and what BU could do to make them dust off their bike and go for a ride down Comm Ave.
Any member of the BU community can take this survey here from now until November 15. The official announcement about the University’s Bicycle Friendly University status will be posted sometime in February 2022.
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