Bicycle Friendly Community Survey
carey...@comcast.net
The League of American Bicyclists is soliciting surveys about local communities for their BFC ratings. Nashville is currently rated at the bottom as bronze. Levels are platinum, gold, silver and bronze (cute, huh?).
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/BFC_local_2026
For what’s it worth I graded us as “fair” and average compared to other cities. I know some people want us upgraded to silver. That includes places like Denver, Milwaukee and Chattanooga. Austin is gold as is Seattle. Portland is platinum. I notice they list some very bike friendly cities as “lapsed” meaning they don’t even attempt to get rated. I’m not sure it’s really a worth while effort but others disagree.
Other bronze cities include:
Charlotte (36 on PFB)
Cincinnati (32)
Richmond (34)
Knoxville (37)
Memphis (19)
https://airtable.com/apphBCibxHP4Wuy18/shrtxDEyqgjlIAnBB/tbl9Ky2oL0JL4zQOm
People for Bikes has upgraded our rating from 17 to 26 to 36 the last few years. They changed their methodology and I think they have some grade inflation, but they are more focused on infrastructure than LAB. Thirty-six is about average for a city our size. We’re ranked 1,091 of US cities, 223 in the South and 11th in Tennessee.
https://cityratings.peopleforbikes.org/cities/nashville-tn
Portland 55
Seattle 66
Minneapolis 68
Austin 36
Carey