Hypno Toad

I was thinking about this article over the weekend as I biked to a race (not commuting, but still bike for transport) - I'm one less bike commuter since I work a home office. I didn't see the article address what appears to be a growing trend of people working from home. IMHO the bike-commuter is the kinda person that values a work-from-home arrangement more than the average person and that will reduce the number of bike-commuters.

Also, it appears they are using the same survey methodology for year-over-year comparison. However, with bike commuters being a small number of commuters, a small shift in the survey base can result in a large shift in the bike-commuter numbers. I honestly think it's a weak methodology. We need to combine a variety of methodologies to get more accurate results (i.e. Strava & other sports tracking apps, human & automated counters on busy bike routes, along with the surveys).

CliffordK

One could probably get significantly different numbers if one conducted the survey in say mid December or perhaps July.

January might get a bump in people with New Years resolutions... until they realize that riding in the cold and rain is miserable.

One thing I've noticed recently is a lot of utility cyclists. Most seem to be riding on a shoestring budget, but not all of them. I passed a guy the other day returning from the local building supply store with a cart full of 2x4's.

Of course, perhaps I'm more sensitive to utility cyclists than ever before... and somewhat less discriminatory.

I have noticed a few electronic sensors embedded in local bike paths. Hopefully the city is actually collecting long term data from them. Of course, use of paths can vary, but some paths do tend to be bottleneck funnels and excellent routes for certain commutes.

Rollfast

Ummmmm...it's snowing and stuff.

Daniel4

I wish I can say I still bike commute but I can't. I'm retired but I still bike almost everyday although it's no longer to work.

Is that the reason why some surveys in some locales indicate a drop in bike commuting? Because the baby boomers are retiring and the bike commuters amongst them too?

Hypno Toad

Dero's Zap is popular in Minneapolis, in part, since it's a local company:

(great video highlighting Minneapolis' best-in-class bike infrastructure)

My daughter's employer uses Zap to track bike-commuting and offers her wellness credits. Funny riding together, we hear that beep sound all over town ... but she only gets one credit per work day.

Also, I'm finding in Minneapolis, as bike infrastructure gets better and more routes are available, there's less traffic funneled into a limited number of bike routes. Looking at Strava's heat maps over the years, it's becoming a more complex spider's web, making counting at specific locations less insightful.

pdlamb

I wondered about the seasonal bit, seeing as how the article came out at the start of (northern hemisphere) winter.

And on the other extreme of bike paths, our latest one goes under the interstate and dead-ends. Perhaps not surprisingly, I don't know anyone who uses that path regularly. I'm afraid we've got politicians chasing after LAB awards -- we put a bike path in last year! -- and not paying attention to the needs of, you know, people who ride bikes regularly.

CliffordK

Interesting concept. I haven't been "zapped"

What I noticed was a series of diamonds cut in the paving of the bike paths, which I assume are attached to induction sensors, but I'm not quite sure where the circuits go. They didn't seem to be associated with traffic lights.

I haven't watched heat maps evolve beyond my own impact to local HEAT. Perhaps that would be interesting. My own commuting has changed, in part due to looking at local "bike maps", and realizing the benefits of incorporating local low volume neighborhood streets without bike paths.

On a day to day basis, I also challenge myself to find a different route for my return trip from my outbound trip, so I end up with lots of loops.

I don't always hit a MUP, but there are certain destinations that it would be suicide not to hop on the MUP. Even if the MUP generally fans out to multiple possible routes, there are a few bottlenecks that would tend to capture me (or one could add sensors at multiple parallel locations).

CliffordK

In the mid 1990's, there was a bike path in Portland which ended on a hillside overlooking McLoughlin Blvd. The street was cut below grade. And, there was no easy way to get up or down to street level, and about a mile back before one could connect to anything other than that dead-end.

Ten years later, the city has built a bicycle bridge over McLoughlin Blvd, and improved connections along the path. It has become a very well used path.

It may just take time before the ultimate design becomes obvious. Or, perhaps the idea that if they build it, then the people will come.

robertorolfo

I'm with you on that. It's pretty much a recipe for disaster. Not to get too philosophical again, but most people can't learn a lesson unless it's the "hard way."

JoeyBike

Yep. I posted a graph around this thread somewhere showing this issue clearly. Post 16.

base2 

Tldr; but anecdotally, it seems that the cities that had the biggest decrease in percentage (literally: "per hundred") in cycling for commuting purposes were the cities with the biggest population growth. The greater Seattle region had ~300,000 new residents last year. It's hard to imagine an out of work family from Arkansas prioritizing room for bicycles they probably don't even own in the back of a U-haul truck for the journey. As a native, I've lost count of the pick-up trucks (farm vehicles, really) and cars with out of state plates crowding Seattles roads coming from states where there is no cycling culture & driving a half-hour or more one-way to the local Wal-mart is considered normal. Couple that with general unfamiliarity with the area, generally poor public transport, public transports general reputation as being for the low class with no other options and not counting every mode of an intermodal trip...It's not hard to see why the numbers appear to have gone down.

My gut feeling is new population not bringing their bikes with them, & weather notwithstanding, total trips by established residents have gone up over the years, it's the counting that's lagging. We need population adjusted and intermodal adjusted and non-commuting adjusted numbers. I see no less than 5 cyclists out & about every single time I get in the car for anything. This used to not be the case...Something must be amiss in the data capture.

arsprod 

Overthinking this, it was a fad and the fad's passed. Now those who thought they were cool to bike commute realize they're not and have moved on to something else like long bushy beards or vaping.

JoeyBike

Or the young folks took selfies of themselves commuting one day, posted on social media, and look at that post now and then. While vaping.

PedalingWalrus

Only 3 miles? Dude, just walk. It's fun too and you won't be sweaty or have grease on your pants :-)

Actually if my commute was only 3 miles I would not even consider biking. Not enough time to get the exercise I want every day. I would walk.

bigbenaugust 

20 minutes on the bike v. almost an hour walking? And in NC half the year, you get sweaty either way.

PedalingWalrus

umm yeah, I live in Maine. I haven't considered the weather south from me. :-) good point.

bigbenaugust 

Come visit in July.

acidfast7

I grew up in Maine and wouldn't walk 3 miles in the summer. I would cycle 3 miles.

I commute 3 miles now round trip and live closer to the ocean than I did in Maine, which is hard to do in Europe, as everyone in Maine lives near the sea.

arsprod 

no motor?

My comute is down to a little over 2 mles now and that's 35 minutes of walking or 10 minutes of riding plus the clothes changes on either end. It's a toss up some days as to which it better, and I still feel like I'm just getting warmed up when I'm almost there when I ride.

Hypno Toad

I have friends in MN with commutes that are about this distance, they dress in office casual clothes, ride a city bike, and keep it easy pace. Come to think of it, that's what I do in Chicago, I typically have a hotel in downtown and use a Divvy bike to get to McCormick Place. It's roughly 3 miles riding in my suit to get to/from trade shows. Faster than walking, cabs, buses, etc

acidfast7

that is all of Europe.

Hypno Toad

That's true! I love traveling in Europe... I'm going to Hannover in a couple months, hope to have time to take a ride.

bigbenaugust 

My preference -- especially in the Southern summer -- is to go fast and change at the office. Other than chasing the kids and the occasional lunch ride, it's the only workout I get all week.

But I did do the "bikeshare and work clothes" thing at a conference in DC in '17. Enjoyed it immensely.

Hypno Toad

I admit the summer in the South is a different (sweaty) beast