DC bike trend going up

Despite recent reports that bike commuting has remained flat nationwide (I remain skeptical) it appears that locally at least that isn't the case. Eric Gilliland points out

Bike commuting rates in DC increased by over 60% between 1990 and 2000.

It's also true that DC area residents aren't driving alone as much as they used to

According to the unfortunately titled “Preliminary Draft Commuter Connections State of the Commute Survey 2007 Survey Technical Report,” the number of those in the region driving by themselves to job locations outside the home was 71 percent, compared with 74.1 percent in the 2004 survey.

This also bucks the national trend

which shows that the number of those driving alone has gone up to 77 percent.

As for biking

Even the number of people riding their bikes or walking has gone up from 2.3 percent to 2.7 percent.

This number may differ from Eric's because it includes walking (so annoying) or it covers a wider area (as you get to the suburbs biking goes down). It's hard to say.

Another significantly less scientific poll shows 7% of DCist readers (As of July 26. 2007) ride their bikes to work. That's encouraging.

Comments

[John Pickett]

I have been commuting from Mount Vernon by bike for a least ten years. There is no doubt in my mind that the Mount Vernon Trail has far more commuters now than ten years ago.

[laurie]

i'm a woman who has been bike commuting from DC to Old Town for the past four months...any possibility of getting up a registry or blog or something to allow solo riders to get in touch with each other and possibly buddy-up for after-dark commutes home? Given attacks against women on ohther trails, it would be great to try to get a buddy system going. i can organize this. please feel free to contact me.

[Chris]

Laurie -
This is great idea. I asked some of the people on my cycling team's listserv about this, and I'm told that www.bikeforums.net has a commuter forum. Bikeforums.net is nation-wide, but I'm told there's a lot of local cyclists on it. Something specifically dedicated sounds great though.

[ohmypolarbear]

Laurie,
WABA has (or used to have) a commuter mentor system, which may be what you're looking for, although I never used it so I can't be sure. If you do want to set up a dedicated system, talk to WABA first - both to avoid duplicating effort and so you can use the support systems they already have for getting in touch with area cyclists. Email me (my username at gmail.com) and we can talk more.

[washcycle]

I'm pretty sure the commuter mentor system was discontinued. Bikeforums.net or the bikeDC yahoo group are both good options.

[laurie]

hi all,
thanks for the responses (and sorry for my delay in responding). I have been emailing with WABA and there seems to be an interest in developing a bike buddy-system. I wasn't looking for a mentor system as i've been commuting via bike for 6 months now. I am just looking for a way to prevent having to bike home alone in the dark. I'm going to meet with WABA folks hopefully sometime this week and will post results.
take care,
laurie

[laurie]

hi all,
anyone interested in helping put together a bike commuter buddy system for winter/post-dark biking or commuting, email me at [email protected]. We have three folks on board and ideas are underway!
- laurie