Is Burlington a Bike-Friendly City? UVM Students Respond

Quinn (far left) and Tanner (far right) with UVM Bikes employees, Effie (middle left) and Peter (middle right)

This article is courtesy of the students in UVM’s Environmental Journalism course. Thank you to Quinn Bisbee and Tanner Hopkins. This article was edited by Cate Phypers

Burlington is often regarded as an incredibly bike-friendly city, and students make up a massive portion of the biking (and city) population. While some point to the infrastructure and driver awareness, many more refer to the plentiful resources available to bikers, one of the most prominent being UVM Bikes.

Just like many off-campus students, Paul and Caleb rely on biking to get around the city. “I live off campus, so I’m biking a lot to friends’ houses and downtown,” Paul said. Being such a crucial component of their lives, it’s important that biking feels safe with plenty of resources to keep biking running.

Yet still, when it comes to many aspects of biking, Burlington is a mixed bag. Biking infrastructure is a huge focus of many riders as it often dictates how safe they feel. “There's some roads that have bike lanes in the middle, there's some that have actual bike lanes on the side, but some with paint that doesn’t mean anything,” Paul said. Oftentimes, inconsistent bike lanes cause confusion and frustration for drivers and riders alike. 

When it comes to how bike riders feel about drivers, the feelings are just as mixed. Biking in Burlington is so popular that most cars are accustomed to having bikes on the road, giving everybody a sense of comfort. “Most [cars] respect you, even if there’s no bike lane,” Caleb said. However, there are still frustrating situations nearly every biker experiences during their biking career. For example, Paul brought up the numerous times drivers couldn’t or refused to acknowledge his hand signals. A solution he proposed was having more education for drivers about hand signaling.

When it comes to maintaining bikes as a student, the resources available are outstanding. For example, when asked about UVM Bikes! they had great things to say. “When I’ve gone it has been great… It’s cheap parts and labor,” Paul said. UVM Bikes! is widely known throughout the student body with overwhelming positivity. They’re known for their unbeatable prices, bike education, and welcoming staff.

Peter and Effie, who are both joyous volunteers at UVM Bikes!, also had great things to say about their services. “We’ve also got used parts … so you can pay dirt money for some quality stuff,” Peter said. UVM Bikes! can fund all of this thanks to grants from the Student Government Association.

Even in summer months, Effie says that UVM Bikes! gets “a small amount of money to keep us open a few days a week.” They are able to support some non-UVM Burlington residents during this time. Both Peter and Effie love their work, and especially love the community aspect of the co-op. “It’s fun when someone wants to learn … A lot of times someone will come in with a repair and they say, ‘How can I help?’” said Effie.

As self-described “bike enthusiasts,” both Effie and Peter believe Burlington is a lot better than other places, but admit there’s room for improvement.  “Burlington is such a bike-oriented town and you expect there are going to be bikers everywhere,” said Peter, to which Effie added, “It’s a lot of ‘share the lane’ situations… you have to know that you deserve [to be there].”

In speaking on the shared bike and car lanes, Effie said, “You have to bike a little defensively to keep yourself safe, but I feel that makes everyone safer.” Both volunteers noted that there are certainly ways to improve the safety of the biking infrastructure in Burlington. “More bike-specific lanes would be awesome, but also it comes down to education,” said Peter. Effie agreed, saying, “I think education for both bikers and cars is key;  everybody needs to be more aware of each other.”

Despite the possibility of better infrastructure or education, experienced bikers in Burlington seem to think it’s a safe biking city compared to others. So, as Peter concluded, “Just keep biking!”