PeopleForBikes has ranked Longmont in the 86th percentile for bike friendliness this year.
The annual report from the nonprofit, which advocates for more people riding bikes and to make riding better, comes out each June. It analyzes cities’ bicycle networks and community perceptions of biking.
This year Longmont ranked 155 out of 1,105 cities and 58 out of 455 midsize cities included in the rankings with a score of 40 overall. According to PeopleForBikes, in general a score over 50 indicates a city is making a strong effort to make bicycling safe and convenient for riders.
Scores are calculated by combining two ratings, the Bicycle Network Analysis Score and Community Survey Score. The network score counts for 80% of the overall ranking, with survey results from the community making up the other 20%.
To decide the network score, biker access to various parts of daily life are rated from 0 to 100 with 100 being the best. PeopleForBikes gave Longmont an overall 36 for its bike network, while the average score for all cities in 2022 was 25.
Of the six access categories, Longmont ranked highest for recreation with a 51 and neighborhoods with a 42. Access to jobs and schools, essential services and retail sat around 30 points, while transit saw a zero with no bike access to major transit hubs.
BikesForPeople also provides an interactive map of Longmont depicting high-stress and low-stress areas for bicycling, which shows that biking tends to be lower stress closer to the city center and higher stress on the outskirts.
Longmont’s community score was much higher than the average of 24 with an overall 57 for the city. Longmont ranked especially high for ridership with a 78 followed by network and awareness.
Safety ranked the lowest of the four community categories at 44.
The highest rated city overall in the United States was Provincetown, Massachusetts, with an 81. The highest ranking city in Colorado was Crested Butte at fourth place nationwide with a 70, followed by Aspen in sixth with 67 and Boulder in seventh with 66.
