How do you quantify or define 'bike friendly"?

is it the availability of safe/covered bike parking? Shower facilities? Finanancial incentives/rewards?

I don't know what defines 'bike friendly"

btw, the only benefit i have is a safe place to park my bike. my employer ISN'T.

Interesting question!! Well, I think maybe it'd be better to say "bike-to-work friendly," cause then you'd be covering the issues of available showers, flexible arrival and departure times, a place to stash your bike, etc.

I wouldn't say the college where I worked set out to intentionally be "bike-to-work" friendly, but they do have in their mission statement a "concern and care for the earth" and a commitment to "personal and professional growth." And nobody complains when I carry my bike up the stairs and through the front door and park it behind my desk in the reference room in plain sight of everyone. (When it's not summer and there are lots of students about, I park it in the staff lounge behind a door that locks because I get more paranoid with the extra traffic and distractions that it could be stolen.) Nobody's even said anything about the wet bike clothes I drape over the bike to dry while I'm working. (Really, I think that's pushing it!)

Frankly, I think they should advertise this in the materials they provide to prospective employees... that we are located right on the edge of Fairmont Park, with a wide trail that can be used before, during or after work to run, bike or walk for miles and miles; and that employees also have access to the pool and the locker rooms with showers. I think this would seen as a huge fringe benefit to a lot of people.

As for the type of person who rides in, yes, we're all geeks and dorks of some sort. Not necessarily engineers, but -- thinking about it -- IT types, me (electronic resources librarian and language geek) another language geek who teaches spanish, and a biology prof. I've seen bikes around but have not been able to figure out who they belong to. I really think most cyclists are geeks of some sort. You have to be a bit over-the-top about it in order to make it work with your family, your coworkers and pretty much everyone who knows you... You gotta be organized and precise about a lot of things.

my company acts like i don't exist... my pay bage displays a # where the peeps with cars have there hancocks displayed ... but i do work for a farking car supplier arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr... my coworkers make fun of me call me skinny ass chicken legs and things like that


i luv this site for planning my attacks...... beta.mapmyride.com/

Great discussion, indeed.

I work in student services at a local community college, and I must say that they are not very bicycle or "bike-to-work" friendly. Like another poster mentioned about the institution where she works, they, too, do harp on about the environment, but most of the people who I've observed biking to work are members of the janitorial staff. So, my answer is a disappointing no.

There is always one, and usually only one person at my work who rides. Currently, I am that person. We don't have showers here, but my ride to work is 90% downhill anyway so most of my sweating is done on the ride home. We have a bike rack out front, but I park my bike inside by the service entrance. We get $20 a month for riding or walking to work, plus discounts on transit passes. My coworkers are open minded to biking, but for some reason on the rare occasions that my bike falls over they just walk around it or step over it instead of picking it up. -____-;

REI is really bike friendly, they provide a shower with towels for us and give incentives for riding to work. When you commute six times you get a free movie ticket to our local Indie movie house. Its really wonderful to work in an environment that celebrates cycling.

We have about 800 employees. Consistently 4 people ride. Not bike geeks. 2 of us don't own cars. 1 has a large family and he's very frugal to accommodate them. The 4th I don't know. We have a bike rack to lock up at. We have shower stalls but nobody ever used them so they've been transformed into mop storage. No incentives...yet. There are a few new programs in place in our community that I've thought alerting my employer about.

We have a lot of scooter riders..."a lot" being under 10. The company just spent buku dollars on a brand new extension to the parking lot for everyone's cars. :(
We are easy access, and on the bus line. No incentive for using public transpo either, but a handful of employees use that too.

I work for an environmental non-profit which is fairly bike friendly. It could bet better. No covered parking or incentives. There is a shower. I am the only one who rides every day, all year. Some people will get on a kick for a few weeks in the summer, but it always fades. I would expect more riders being in this field.

I'm self employed and my office is in an old historical building that does not have any showers. Once upon a time it was a house and surely had bath tubs if not showers, but now all of that is converted to other uses.

I am the only bicycle commuter in the building. The other tenants and the owner are tolerant but indifferent. I think they support the concept, but if I don't change out of the bicycle attire, then I am definitely dressed down compared to the rest of them. I think they like it better when I get dressed up. Classes the place up, you know.

If I have meetings, obviously I change into office clothes, but if my bike clothes didn't get sweaty or dirty, sometimes I'll stay in them.

Wish we had a shower, but it would be a huge expense for the owner to put one in. I have to make do with toweling off and changing clothes.

If I could permanenty do away with the need for a car, I could give up my parking space, and we are short on those. But sometimes I must have a car at work, just can't be avoided.

my workplace is very friendly, though very few of my coworkers bike to work.

no one minds that i take my bike into the elevator and into my office. there are showers at the gym (i teach at a college) but since i am a math teacher i don't bother, we don't have to look or smell especially nice ;)

i do find it incredible that so few coworkers bike. parking sucks and i can get to school faster than most of my students because the traffic is also terrible, especially between classes.