2007 Benchmarking Report - Alliance for Biking & Walking

Bicycling & Walking in the U.S./ Thunderhead Alliance 2007
20
CURRENT STATUS OF BICYCLING
percent
Overview of
Cycling and Cycling Safety Nationwide and nationwide in is 0.90%, with the average for metropolitan areas of
Major U.S. Cities
0.94%. Oregon is the top state for overall bicycle mode share
with 2.36% of all trips by bike. Tennessee and West Virginia rank
1.9%
lowest in bike to work commute share with only 0.07% of work
1.7%
trips by bike. Arkansas ranks lowest for all bike trips according
Nationwide
to NHTS estimates, with only 0.15% of all trips by bike.
Overview of Cycling and Cycling Safety
Nationwide and in Most-Populous U.S. Cities
2.0%
1.5%
1.0%
0.5%
0.0%
0.40%
0.68%
% of trips to work by bike
In Major U.S. Cities
0.90%
estimated % of all
bike
0.94%
trips by
% of traffic fatalties
are cyclists
Sources: ACS (2005), NHTS (2001-2002) , FARS (2003-2005), City Surveys
Note: estimated % of all trips by bike is from NHTS and represents metropolitan
areas as opposed to cities
source available, the 2005 ACS. While the decennial Census is
taken in April, ACS data is collected throughout the year. The
time of year the Census data is collected might impact reported
bike and walk share of work trips. This is particularly true in cities
such as Minneapolis and Washington, D.C. which can still be
cold in April. Although the decennial Census has a larger sample
size, in this case, the ACS may more accurately reflect bicycle
travel because it is collected throughout the year. Estimated cycling
mode share from the NHTS was also included in the data
tables (pages 24-27) for comparison.
The Numbers: Findings on Bicycle Mode Share
Thunderhead used 2005 ACS to determine that nationwide,
an average of 0.40% of trips to work are by bike. In the major
U.S. cities studied here, the bicycle commute share is higher
at 0.68%. Montana has the highest bike to work share at 1.60%.
According to NHTS estimates, the total bicycle mode share
that
Who Bikes
Bicycle Demographics: Data Limitations
Determining who rides bikes is also difficult: the fact
that only work trips are counted leaves out trips taken for nonwork
purposes, such as those made by children, for recreational
purposes, or in combination with other modes of transportation.
Part of the efforts to increase and standardize local trip counts
is including demographic information in these surveys. Local
efforts have been conducted to capture information on cycling
demographics (including some referenced in the Introduction
chapter of this report). However, because there is no standardized
format used for these surveys, Thunderhead relied on ACS
and NHTS data for demographic information.
Cyclists’ Income
There is almost no variation at all in the bicycle mode
share by income class. Data from the 2001 NHTS shows that
cycling mode share is roughly 0.9% for all income classes. However,
a more comprehensive examination of the socio-economics
of cycling may reveal a difference in trip purpose among income
classes (i.e. lower-income cyclists may cycle more for utility
while high-income cyclists may cycle more for recreation).
Regardless of the reason for cycle trips, these data show that
cycling is a universal activity.
Less than
$20,000
Cyclist Mode Share by Income Class
$20,000 to
$39,999
Household Income
$40,000 to
$74,999
$75,000 to
$99,999
$100,000
and over
0.9% 0.9% 0.9% 0.9% 0.8% 0.9%
Source: Pucher, John and John L. Renne, 2003. (cont. page 29)
All