League of American Bicyclists awards California Institute of Technology Bronze Level Bike Friendly University status!

We are very pleased to announce that Caltech has been nationally recognized by the League of American Bicyclists as a Bronze Level Bike Friendly University!
 

In order to be recognized as a bike friendly university, the university had to demonstrate excellence in several categories:

Engineering
Education
Encouragement
Enforcement
Evaluation and Planning 

See the full list of recognized universities in 2013 here. 

Caltech Bike Lab and Kristina Valenzuela at the Caltech Transportation Office worked to prepare our application and we are very happy to see Caltech, with our high percentages of students and faculty regularly commuting by bicycle, recognized as spearheading efforts to make the university even more friendly to bicyclists.

Just in time for this year's bike month in May, we installed a DIY bike repair station that provides 24 hour access to basic tools on campus next to Red Door Cafe. The bike repair station was purchased with funds from the Moore Hufstedler Fund at Caltech and Caltech Bike Lab paid for costs of installation.

The Caltech Bike Lab has had a bike repair shop on campus for many years with regular office hours where any member of Caltech/JPL community can access tools and get help with bike repair. Our volunteers are currently students and staff at Caltech and JPL. The Bike Lab also leads regular bike rides to CicLAvia, an annual christmas light rides, other rides to breweries and food trucks, and we host an annual social BBQ with the JPL Bike Club.

We also emphasize the importance of safe bicycling education. Caltech Transportation sponsors a free defensive cycling classes every quarter at the Caltech Y organized by Caltech Bike Lab. The class is open to all members of Caltech (priority signup) and also to the public. It is taught by local bike organization C.I.C.L.E.

We also have a Metro TAP subsidy offered at the Caltech Bookstore. With Caltech ID, you can refill your Metro TAP card with $20 of credit for only $15. The nearest Metro stations are only a 5 minute bicycle ride from campus. The Caltech Bookstore also sells bike lights for riding at night and U-locks to securing your bicycles at the hundreds of bike racks all over campus.

We recognize this is only the beginning of our journey, (let's aim for silver, gold, platinum, and diamond) but its a great start!