Is Boise bike friendly?

How does Boise rank for being bicycle friendly?

Image Credit, Peopleforbikes.org

With the Boise Greenbelt, increasing numbers of bike lanes and abundant mountain biking in the foothills, I think anyone that lives in Boise would say, "Yes, Boise is Bike friendly".  Yet, in a newly released city rankings by People for Bikes, Boise only ranked with a network score of 13 out of 100.

The way cities are ranked is a bit confusing. Below are some of the areas that are taken into consideration when ranking a city for bike friendliness.

• Neighborhoods (Access to parts of the city where residents live)
• Opportunity (Access to jobs and schools)
• Essential Services (Access to places that serve basic needs, like hospitals and grocery stores)
• Recreation (Access to recreational amenities like parks and trails) 
• Retail (Access to major shopping centers)
• Transit (Access to major transit hubs)

Out of the categories listed above the one that was most surprising was Recreation. The score was only 19 out of 100.  With the Boise Greenbelt, city parks, bike parks and foothills, I would expect that number to be higher.

However, in the "Community Score", Boise came in with much better numbers and a combined score of 66 out of 100 for the categories below.

• Awareness (How familiar people are with local biking resources and their city’s efforts to improve biking)
• Network (How well a city’s bike network connects people to places they want to go)
• Ridership (How often people ride bikes in their city for transportation and recreation)
• Safety (How safe people feel riding a bike in their city)

​You can read more about "Boise Bicycle Friendliness" on People For Bikes.
After you look at the rankings, come back here and share your thoughts about cycling in Boise.