Bicycle Friendly in SC
The Bicycle Friendly program is taking South Carolina by storm—and we couldn’t be more ready! The program in South Carolina consists of bicycle friendly advancements within communities, businesses and universities, as well as the state bicycle friendly ranking. This effort is based upon the League’s Bicycle Friendly America (BFA) program. The BFA program is a valuable model to the Coalition as we work with communities, universities and businesses to make a more bicycle friendly South Carolina. If you are interested in guidance or technical assistance through any of these programs, contact Amy.
Communities
The Coalition has worked with every designated Bicycle Friendly Community (BFC) in South Carolina to aid in achieving their respective status. The first community to receive BFC status was Spartanburg in 2007, when they were awarded bronze. Since then, the following communities received designations:
- 2007 Spartanburg, bronze
- 2008 Columbia, bronze
- 2009 Greenville, bronze
- 2010 Charleston, bronze (lapsed)
- 2011 Hilton Head Island, Gold!
- 2012 Rock Hill, bronze
The BFC program offers important metrics to ensure that these five communities continue to work to be the best that they can be in bicycling.
Business
Since the inception of the Bicycle Friendly Business (BFB) program in 2009, many have been awarded a designation:
- Bank of America Plaza, bronze
- Bees Ferry Veterinary Hospital, bronze
- Boyd Cycling, silver
- Caine Halter Family YMCA, bronze
- Charleston Civic Design Center, silver (lapsed)
- Cycle Center, gold
- DOM360 (Dealer Online Marketing), bronze
- Erwin Penland, silver
- Fluor, bronze
- Fox Music House, Charleston, bronze
- GE Energy Greenville, bronze (lapsed)
- Hawley LLC, silver
- Hilton Head Bicycle Company, bronze
- Mary Black Foundation, bronze
- Palmetto Dunes Property Owners Association, silver
- Partners for Active Living, platinum
- Pedal Chic, gold
- REI Greenville, silver
- Swamp Rabbit Cafe and Grocery, bronze
- TTR Bikes, platinum (lapsed)
- Upstate Forever, bronze (lapsed)
- Velo Valets, gold
- Velo Valets Gives Back, silver
- YMCA of Greenville, bronze (lapsed)
University
The League’s Bicycle Friendly University (BFU) program awarded these South Carolina Universities this designation:
State Ranking
South Carolina ranked 41st in 2018 from 2017 data, in statewide bicycle friendliness. This ranking includes:
- The bicycle friendliness of our state laws,
- SCDOT policies and funding priorities,
- ridership, and
- safety.
From 2009 to 2017, our ranking vacillated from 26th to 33rd to 39th to 32nd to 34th, 47th, 44th, skipped 2016, and is now 41st. We improved in the last few years, but it’s still a metric that speaks to the work yet to be done.
