The BCycle station at 18th Street and Colorado Avenue was the first established on campus. (Sarah Taylor/CU Independent)
In November 2025, the League of American Bicyclists awarded the University of Colorado Boulder platinum status as a bicycle-friendly university (BFU) on campus. CU Boulder has been recognized by the League since 2016, but this new ranking is a bump up from its previous gold status.
The Environmental Center’s bike program manager, Samuel Forsyth, said that the League outlined six major pieces of positive feedback regarding bicycle accessibility. Highlights were overall infrastructure, including new underpasses to off-campus neighborhoods, free access to the bike share program BCycle, bike repair stations and clinics offered.
“Not every campus has [a bike program] that robust,” Forsyth said.
Another feature is free bike registration, promoted to reduce the likelihood of tampering and theft. Students can register online by recording the serial number, model and description of their bike.
Fourth-year student Sedai Bennett registered their bike. Their previous bike, also registered, was stolen after they lost the lock key and had to leave it unlocked. They said that registration doesn’t necessarily reduce theft, but that it’s better than not having a recorded trace; theft is a problem on campus, similar to other public campuses.
“It’s pretty easy to get around,” they said regarding dedicated bike paths.
Bennett bikes from their house south of campus to class almost every day unless it snows. They said that biking on campus is tricky or confusing at the beginning of the school year when there are new students navigating the pathways.
The bike program plays a small but key role in a larger goal of healthy and sustainable transportation in Boulder. Brandon Smith, assistant director of sustainable transportation and certified urban planner, develops transportation programs that encourage students not to need a car on campus.
“Coming into university, you’re figuring out, ‘Well, how am I going to get around?’” Smith said. “By showing students this avenue of being more sustainable and active modes of transportation, the goal is they’ll do that when they’re at university … when they get a job and find a new place to live, they’ll take [that] in consideration.”
The Center subsidizes student access to car share programs like ZipCar and offers $25 bus tickets to ski resorts for students. Students also pay a $101 mandatory transit fee each semester that covers Buff buses, a pass for the Regional Transportation District and bicycle programs on campus.
Another large contribution to the award is the increasing number of BCycles on campus and in the greater Boulder area. Boulder BCycles launched in May 2011, beginning with 12 stations and ending the year with 15. Now, there are 64 stations around Boulder, 18 of them on CU’s campuses.
Smith said that there are roughly 750,000 BCycle checkouts made by CU affiliates every year.
Smith said that the biggest piece of feedback he has received regarding BCycles is the need for more bike stations reaching more areas with student traction. He is working on expanding the current station outside of the Sustainability, Energy, and Environment Community on East Campus and looking into adding another in Williams Village, upon student requests.
“We’re always looking to expand … I’m sure as soon as we expand that, another student will reach out, like, ‘You need more bikes over here,’” Smith said. “It’s a great problem to have.”
A 2025 BFU survey received 318 responses from CU affiliates, many of whom were students with registered bikes. When asked for room for improvement to become more bike-friendly, responses emphasized the need for more bike lanes, covered bike racks and repair stations on campus. Forsyth even received a request to have indoor bike parking in student residence halls.
In 2021, the Board of Regents approved the most recent Campus Master Plan which includes a “The Walk”, a long-term multimodal transportation proposal. If implemented, campus planners would reconstruct 18th Street and Colorado Avenue, the two-way road bisecting campus, into a “shared pedestrian, bike, and campus transit mobility corridor.”
A rendered model of proposed redesign “The Walk Mobile Corridor.” The pathway, depicted down the center of the model with a bicycle symbol, would preserve a single lane for Buff buses while leaving dedicated lanes for students walking and biking. (Via the 2021 Campus Master Plan, page 36)
The document read that “the Campus Master Plan is not conceived in a vacuum; rather, it integrates with various planning initiatives that preceded and informed it.” Proposals are not set in stone; they are mere guidelines to at least the next decade of CU’s design. Regardless, Smith said that The Walk exemplifies how CU institutionally shows priority towards safe and active transportation on campus.
“It’s enjoyable to hopefully influence students for the rest of their lives, and create a better commute pattern,” Smith said.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Sarah Taylor at sarah.taylor@colorado.edu
