Every year cycling advocacy group PeopleForBikes releases it’s official list of the most bike-friendly cities in America. This year a Massachusetts city tops that list.
PeopleForBikes uses a point system to rate bike-friendly cities with the highest-scoring city getting the coveted top spot on their annual list. Then the next highest score takes the second spot, the next takes third, and so on. Cities are scored on a 0 to 100 point system. If your city scores under 20, it’s considered not very bike-friendly. If it scores over 50, that’s pretty good and considered bike-friendly.
Bicycling in the US has seen a surge in popularity and usage in recent years. According to the latest available data an estimated 47.5 million Americans use cycling as a regular form of exercise and transportation. The number of bike commuters has also increased, with just over 850,000 people using bicycles as their primary means of transportation for commuting to work.
So let’s get to the rankings. What Massachusetts city do you think tops the list as America’s Most Bike-Friendly City? Boston? Worcester? Springfield? None of those are correct. Below I will give you a bunch of random cities around New England and their overall score (remember, under 20 = bad, over 50 = good). Then I’ll lay out the top cities in America leading up to #1 when you will find out if your guess is correct. You do have a guess, right? What Massachusetts city do you think was named most bike-friendly city in the entire US? Make your mental guess…………… now.