Community Corner

Survey Rates Los Angeles as Just Barely Bikeable

The rating is announced to coincide with Bike Week in the Southland.

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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 and president of the Encino Neighborhood Council, told Patch Tuesday. "But in a city where most trips are three miles or less, accommodating and encouraging bicycle usage makes a lot of sense," he said.   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.  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," he said.   "In short, we need to do even more to implement the City's adopted 2010 Bicycle Plan." Bike Week L.A. 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.

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.

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

A separate study by League of American Bicyclists, ranks the state of California as 19th in friendliness toward bicycles.

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