PATCH REPORT - Just in time for Bicycle Week L.A., a national survey of America's most bikeable cities has been released by Bike Score, and Los Angeles is graded 54 out of 100. With that rating, Los Angeles ranks as just barely bikeable.
"It has taken Los Angeles 100 years to become the car-centric city it is today and that's not going to change overnight," Glenn Bailey, vice-chair of Los Angeles's Bicycle Advisory Committee, tells Patch.
"But in a city where most trips are three miles or less, accommodating and encouraging bicycle usage makes a lot of sense."
Bailey said the city has plans that will move the Bike Score higher in future ratings. "We need more bike lanes on major streets, bicycle paths along the public right of ways, and convenient and secure bicycle parking," he said. "We need to better educate drivers and cyclists on their shared rights and responsibilities while on the road. We need to encourage children to walk and bicycle to school. In short, we need to do even more to implement the City's adopted 2010 Bicycle Plan."
Bike Week LA encourages Angelenos to self-propel with activities organized by Metro and other transit organizations. Bike Score is an expanded service of the Walk Score website with rates the walkability of addresses around the United States. It quantifies what makes one place less car-dependent than another. The site also offers Transit Score to rate mass transit access.
● Click here for interactive map.
The site was developed at the University of British Columbia, under a grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, to measure the bike-friendliness of a city by considering these factors:
Bike Score provides a 0-100 rating of the bikeability of a location based on the availability of bike infrastructure (lanes and trails), the hilliness of the area, amenities and road connectivity, and the number of bike commuters.
The Bike Score for a city is then calculated by applying the Bike Score algorithm block-by-block throughout the city and weighting the scores by population density. Cities with scores of 70 or higher are considered to be very bikeable, cities with scores between 50 and 69 are bikeable, and cities with scores below 50 are somewhat bikeable.
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Bike Score : City Ranking
City State * Bike Score * Population
Cambridge MA * 91.5 * 105,162
Davis CA * 89.4 * 65,622
Berkeley CA * 87.7 * 112,580
Boulder CO * 86.4 * 97,385
Santa Monica CA * 82.5 * 89,736
Minneapolis MN * 78.5 * 382,578
Fort Collins CO * 78.3 * 143,986
Iowa City IA * 77.1 * 67,862
Hoboken NJ * 76.4 * 50,005
Ann Arbor MI * 76.3 * 113,934
Eugene OR * 74.9 * 156,185
Tempe AZ * 74.8 * 161,719
Pasadena CA * 71.4 * 137,122
Portland OR * 70.3 * 583,776
San Francisco CA * 70.0 * 805,235
State College PA * 69.7 * 42,034
Arlington VA * 69.6 * 207,627
Denver CO * 69.5 * 600,158
Missoula MT * 68.5 * 66,788
Philadelphia PA * 68.4 * 1,526,006
Sacramento CA * 68.3 * 466,488
Salt Lake City UT * 68.3 * 186,440
Boston MA * 67.8 * 617,594
Madison WI * 66.7 * 233,209
Irvine CA * 66.6 * 212,375
Washington D.C. * 65.3 * 601,723
Salem OR * 65.0 * 154,637
Seattle WA * 64.1 * 608,660
Tucson AZ * 64.1 * 520,116
Bend OR * 63.7 * 76,639
St. Paul MN * 62.9 * 285,068
Cupertino CA * 62.7 * 58,302
Northampton MA * 62.6 * 28,549
Wilmington DE * 62.3 * 70,851
New York NY * 62.3 8,* 175,133
Portland ME * 62.2 * 66,194
Lincoln NE * 62.0 * 258,379
Long Beach CA * 61.9 * 462,257
Chicago IL * 61.5 * 2,695,598
Albuquerque NM * 61.0 * 545,852
Boise City ID * 60.8 * 205,671
Hartford CT * 60.5 * 124,775
Fremont CA * 60.4 * 214,089
Napa CA * 60.4 * 76,915
New Orleans LA * 59.7 * 343,829
Aurora CO * 58.3 * 325,078
Oakland CA * 57.1 * 390,724
Rochester NY * 57.1 * 210,565
Santa Ana CA * 56.9 * 324,528
Bellingham WA * 56.7 * 80,885
Miami FL * 56.5 * 399,457
San Jose CA * 56.1 * 945,942
St. Petersburg FL * 55.4 * 244,769
Mesa AZ * 55.0 * 439,041
Modesto CA * 54.8 * 201,165
St. Louis MO * 54.6 * 319,294
Plano TX * 54.2 * 259,841
Los Angeles CA * 54.0 * 3,792,621
Paradise NV * 53.1 * 223,167
Greenbelt MD * 53.1 * 23,068
Buffalo NY * 52.5 * 261,310
Orlando FL * 52.1 * 238,300
Phoenix AZ * 51.9 * 1,445,632
Lansing MI * 51.8 * 114,297
Las Vegas NV * 51.8 * 583,756
Tampa FL * 51.0 * 335,709
Cleveland OH * 50.5 * 396,815
Grand Rapids MI * 50.1 * 188,040
Anaheim CA * 49.9 * 336,265
Chula Vista CA * 49.6 * 243,916
Sparks NV * 49.5 * 90,264
Riverside CA * 49.4 * 303,871
Henderson NV * 49.3 * 257,729
Columbia MO * 49.0 * 108,500
Houston TX * 48.8 * 2,099,451
Poughkeepsie NY * 48.5 * 32,736
Reno NV * 48.2 * 225,221
Savannah GA * 48.2 * 136,286
San Diego CA * 47.8 * 1,307,402
Alexandria VA * 47.6 * 139,966
Billings MT * 47.5 * 104,170
Green Bay WI * 47.4 * 104,057
Baton Rouge LA * 46.4 * 229,493
Colorado Springs CO * 46.0 * 416,427
Sioux Falls SD * 46.0 * 153,888
Virginia Beach VA * 45.8 * 437,994
Columbus OH * 45.7 * 787,033
Dayton OH * 45.5 * 141,527
Fresno CA * 45.3 * 494,665
Austin TX * 45.1 * 790,390
Honolulu HI * 44.8 * 337,256
Bellevue WA * 44.0 * 122,363
Lakeland FL * 43.5 * 97,422
Tulsa OK * 43.3 * 391,906
Wichita KS * 43.2 * 382,368
Atlanta GA * 42.7 * 420,003
Lexington-Fayette KY * 42.4 * 295,803
Springfield IL * 42.1 * 116,250
Fort Wayne IN * 42.0 * 253,691
Louisville-Jefferson KY * 41.8 * 597,337
North Las Vegas NV * 41.5 * 216,961
Dallas TX * 41.4 * 1,197,816
Omaha NE * 41.1 * 408,958
Arlington TX * 40.7 * 365,438
Indianapolis IN * 40.6 * 820,445
Kansas City MO * 40.3 * 459,787
San Antonio TX * 40.1 * 1,327,407
Greensboro NC * 39.8 * 269,666
Memphis TN * 39.4 * 646,889
Oklahoma City OK * 39.3 * 579,999
Durham NC * 39.1 * 228,330
Raleigh NC * 38.8 * 403,892
Garland TX * 38.7 * 226,876
Pittsburgh PA * 38.5 * 305,704
Fort Worth TX * 38.5 * 741,206
Tyler TX * 37.5 * 96,900
Cincinnati OH * 36.6 * 296,943
Charlotte NC * 35.2 * 731,424
Winston-Salem NC * 34.4 * 229,617
Chattanooga TN * 31.8 * 167,674
Nashville-Davidson TN * 31.5 * 601,222
Birmingham AL * 28.8 * 212,237
(Saul Daniels is the editor of Chatsworth.Patch.com where this report was first posted.)
-cw
CityWatch
Vol 11 Issue 41
Pub: May 21, 2013
