I started attending meetings for a new Milwaukee group that, at this moment is called “Milwaukee Businesses by Bike” or MBByB or “Embibe” (which is a little iffy since it’s mixing alcohol and transportation…even though it’s not about alcohol at all). At any rate we need a name, a logo, a mission statement and a checklist of what makes a bike friendly business.
The League of American Bicyclist’s have put together a basic list of how businesses can become more bike friendly, but personally I feel it’s not ambitious enough. So I started brainstorming more options and expanding on ideas they already presented. It should almost be a non–stop, always developing list.
Some stuff should be relatively easy just to make the barrier of entry a little lower. The idea is that businesses could figure out how friendly they already are and gives them something to aspire to be. For instance they could check off that 1% of their office commutes to work and aspire to reach 2%. The higher the percentage the higher the poins. If you have a bike rack, you get a point. If you have a covered bike rack, you get 2. If you have secure bike parking you get 3 points.
The higher the points, the higher your business would rank. Brown, Bronze, Gold, Silver, and Platinum. As businesses reached Platinum you could add more ideas and rank double Platinum, Triple Platinum, Unnllquadium, Unnlhexium, Unnlennium etc.
Some of the requirements might seem unobtainable, but it’s good to shoot for the moon. If you can’t improve further in that direction you can gain more points in other categories.
So here’s the list so far. If you think of any other great additions (or subtractions…it’s a very loose list at this point), please leave a comment and I’ll add it in there and present it to the group the next time we meet.
- Talk with your aldermen or district representative and let them know you want bicycle facilities (off–street bike paths, lanes, trees, other traffic calming measures, boulevards, etc) in your area. (+1 pt)
- Talk with your aldermen or district representative yearly. (+1 pt)
- Talk with your aldermen or district representative twice a year. (+1 pt)
- This might have to be adjusted for business size. Businesses with 10 employees could gain an unfair advantage.
- Get 10% of your office to commute by bike. (+1 pt)
- Get 9% of your office to commute by bike. (+1 pt)
- Get 8% of your office to commute by bike. (+1 pt)
- Get 7% of your office to commute by bike. (+1 pt)
- Get 6% of your office to commute by bike. (+1 pt)
- Get 5% of your office to commute by bike. (+1 pt)
- Get 4% of your office to commute by bike. (+1 pt)
- Get 3% of your office to commute by bike. (+1 pt)
- Get 2% of your office to commute by bike. (+1 pt)
- Get 1% of your office to commute by bike. (+1 pt)
- Follow up with those businesses. (+2 pt)
- Talk with other local businesses about becoming bike friendly. (+1 pt)
- Showers and private changing rooms are ideal. (+5 pt)
- Arrange for shower use at a local health club for your employees. (+2 pt)
- Hanging space or a standing wardrobe will provide ample storage for work clothes. (+3 pt)
- Provide an iron and ironing board. (+1 pt)
- As an alternative to installing expensive showers, allow bike commuters to dress casually in the office. (+1 pt)
- Provide sanitary wipes for sweat removal. (+1 pt)
- Offer subsidies for bike commuters who don’t use car parking spaces. (+3 pt)
- Provide lunch for bike commuters. (+1 pt)
- Offer extra vacation time for daily bike commuters. (+5 pt)
- Appoint a bike commuting coordinator to procure local bike route maps. (+1 pt)
- Help employees plan routes to work using low–traffic but direct roads and paths. (+1 pt)
- Start a Bike Pool program. Having a cycling partner increases the joy of riding dramatically. (+2 pt)
- Post an outline of local traffic laws and how they apply to bicycles. (+1 pt)
- Encourage cyclist education among employees; educated riders are safe riders. (+1 pt)
- Send regular safety and ettiquette notes through the office. (+1 pt)
- Offer even more vacation time to those with no excuses. (+3 pt)
- Offer even more vacation time to those who commute below 20 degrees. (+2 pt)
- Offer even more vacation time to those who commute below 30 degrees. (+2 pt)
- Offer even more vacation time to those who commute below 40 degrees. (+1 pt)
- Offer extra vacation time for bike commuters. (+1 pt)
- If on a narrow arterial, sharrows outside the business. (+3 pt)
- If on an arterial, bike lanes outside the business. (+3 pt)
- Partner with a local bike shop to offer employee discounts or maintenance clinics. (+2 pt)
- Have a professional bike fitting as needed. (+1 pt)
- Have a professional bike fitting twice a year. (+1 pt)
- Have a professional bike fitting once a year. (+1 pt)
- Have loaner bikes in the office for people to use over their lunch hours. This gives people a chance to get their toes wet to let them know that commuting is not only possible, but easy and fun. (+1 pt)
- Have high quality loaner bikes. This shows people that investing in a good quality bike with the right weight and fit is a good idea. (+3 pt)
- Get the loaner bikes from a local bike shop, not a department store. This increases awareness and supports local business. (+2 pt)
- Bike racks outside the office. (+1 pt)
- Bike racks in a visible area. (+1 pt)
- Adequate bike racks available to the public. (Enough to serve the office AND the public). (+1 pt)
- Covered bike racks. (+2 pt)
- Secure bike storage within the office building. (+3 pt)
- Secure bike storage on the ground floor. (+1 pt)
- Provide bus passes on rainy days. (+1 pt)
- Provide washers and dryers for rainy/muddy days. (+5 pt)
- Provide dryer sheets. (+1 pt)
- Provide closets and hangers. (+1 pt)
- Participate in the Bicycle Commuter Act. (+3 pt)
- Submit your name to the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin and post a “We are a bicycle friendly [Color] Standard Business” on your website. (+2 pt)
- Promote bike teams for charity rides. (Trek 100, UPAF Miller Lite Ride for the Arts, Riverwest 24, etc.). (+2 pt)
- Form a company bicycle club or race team; increase your own exposure locally. (+5 pt)
- Organize a lunchtime race. (+2 pt)
- Ask the local bike shop to showcase new bike models during lunch. (+2 pt)
- Get local news media to cover your events. (+1 pt)
- Encourage employees to help co–workers make the switch to bike commuting. (+1 pt)
There are over 100 points to earn so far, so for starters I’m thinking:
- Brown: 20pts
- Bronze: 50pts
- Silver: 70pts
- Gold: 90pts
- Platinum: 110pts
If you have any other ideas of what should be included in the list, leave a note in the comments. I’d love to see this list grow larger and larger with more creative ways of promoting cycling.
Archived Comments
These comments were pulled from the archives after a site failure in mid 2014. Though I no longer accept public comments on my site, I’ve included them for posterity. If you’d like to submit a comment, send one to littletinyfish@littletinyfish.com.
— Hails · 2010-02-05 05:31 · #
— Dave Reid · 2010-02-05 08:41 · #
1. The company provides use of a company car for those who need to entertain clients.
2. The company uses bicycle friendly services such as Breakaway, Milwaukee Courier, and Cream City Rickshaw.
— littletinyfish · 2010-02-06 09:16 · #
2. Businesses provide small discounts to cyclists.
— littletinyfish · 2010-02-09 15:27 · #