CAA and Share the Road are pleased to announce that the Bicycle Friendly Community (BFC) Awards program is expanding beyond Ontario. Share the Road has partnered with the Canadian Automobile Association National Office and CAA Clubs across Canada to launch the program from Newfoundland & Labrador to British Columbia.
The BFC Program was developed by the League of American Bicyclists and they have generously granted permission for Share the Road to run the program in Canada. The program will be run in coordination with Velo Quebec, who currently coordinate the program in Quebec.
As part of the program Bicycle Friendly Communities engages directly with municipalities to conduct an audit of everything they are doing to encourage cycling under the Five Es of being bicycle friendly: Engineering, Education, Encouragement, Enforcement and Evaluation & Planning. Every municipality that applies receives an action-oriented feedback report and municipalities that qualify are recognized with awards of Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Diamond.
Since BFC launched the program in Ontario in 2010, Share the Road has engaged directly with over 100 municipalities and recognized 42 municipalities as Bronze, Silver or Gold. Ontario does not yet have a Platinum or Diamond community.
Awards are valid for 4 years, after which municipalities need to reapply. That being said, municipalities don’t have to wait 4 years to re-submit, they are invited to apply to the program as frequently as they like. The online application is available free of charge in Ontario thanks to Share the Road’s ongoing partnership with the CAA South Central Ontario. Our new partnership with CAA National and local clubs across Canada will ensure that the program continues to be complimentary for municipalities.
Through BFC Share the Road is able to develop a strong network of municipal contacts, collect valuable data about what’s happening with cycling and facilitate the sharing of best practices across jurisdictions. BFC feedback reports have been debated at the council table and incorporated into important planning documents like Transportation Master Plans. In addition to celebrating progress on cycling, the BFC program builds capacity for real progress on cycling.
Wow! Jamie Stuckless and Ian Jack of @STRCycling and @CAA announcing a new National Bike Friendly Communities Program rating all communities on the 5 Es #CNBS19 pic.twitter.com/Sz9fchjYfg
— Vélo Canada Bikes (@Canada_Bikes) May 14, 2019
We were grateful to have the opportunity to announce this expansion at the 3rd National Bike Summit in Ottawa and look forward to working with partners like Canada Bikes to grow this program in new jurisdictions.
The first application round for municipalities outside of Ontario will open in the Fall of 2019. Stay tuned for more details! CAA and Share the Road look forward to working with you.