2008 Bike Share Rankings

Last year Bike Pittsburgh used the American Community Survey to rank the 60 largest U.S. cities by walk share, bike share, car-free, drive alone and public transit. I'm not that ambitious. But I took the top 16 bike cities from last year's list (Austin and Chicago were tied) and added in Pittsburgh (for respect) and three local DC jurisdictions and using this year's just released data, here's what I have:

Bike Share year-to-year
City	2007	2008
Portland	4.2	6
Minneapolis	2.5	4.3
Seattle	2.3	2.9
San Francisco	2.3	2.7
Sacramento	1.3	2.7
Washington	2	2.3
Oakland	2.2	2.1
Tucson	1.6	2
Albuquerque	1.2	1.8
Denver	1.8	1.6
Philadelphia	1.2	1.6
Boston	1.2	1.6
Honolulu	1.5	1.5
Austin	0.9	1.3
Arlington		1.1
Chicago	0.9	1
Pittsburgh	0.8	0.8
Alexandria		0.8
Fresno	1.1	0.6
Silver Spring		0.3

We passed Oakland, but got passed by Sacramento. Fresno must've had bad weather, and Arlington compares very well. Most cities increased though (including DC), and some by quite a lot. Good news

Comments

[silverspringtrails]

Silver Spring at the bottom? I demand a recount!
Where I live in Woodside, just 1 mile from the Transit Center, I see a lot of cycling going on. I can believe a low ride share number IF Silver Spring is defined as everyplace with a Silver Spring zip code, which extends way north to include some of the most suburban, car dependent areas of Montgomery County. But if you only count the Silver Spring downtown and its adjacent urban neighborhoods you should get a much different (and higher) ride share, more consistent with the other urban centers listed.

[Washcycle]

Here is a map of the Silver Spring CDP.

[CyclingFool]

Yeah, I'm always amazed at some of what passes for "Silver Spring". A quick check on Google maps and some stuff that's over six miles outside the Betlway has a Silver Spring mailing address.

[Scott]

So Minneapolis is #2, but St. Paul doesn't even make the list? Or is that figure actually the average of both cities?

Are there figures for Alexandria, Arlington, and Silver Spring from 2007?

[Washcycle]

St. Paul comes in at 1.2% this year

2007
Silver Spring 0.0%
Alexandrian 0.9%
Arlington 1.0%

[hokan]

St. Paul is not nearly as bikeable as Minneapolis and biking has not been promoted by the city government in St. Paul as it has been in Minneapolis.

[silverspringtrails]

Now you got me. 0.0% for Silver Spring in 2007? Then what were those overflowing bike racks at the S.S. Transit Center many mornings?

[Froggie]

Minneapolis also has several bicycle routes that head right into downtown...the Cedar Lake Trail (which itself splits into two near Cedar Lake), Hiawatha LRT trail, West River Pkwy, and bike lanes along Portland Ave. Whereas St. Paul only really has one going into/out of downtown: the bike lanes along Summit Ave.

[Early Man]

Put that in your pipe and smoke it, George Will http://blog.oregonlive.com/mapesonpolitics/2009/05/battle_of_the_bow_ties_will_an.html

[silverspringtrails]

I think I got my answer about how there can be so many bikes at the Silver Spring transit center and still only see a 0.0% ride share. The census survey asked only what the "primary" mode was, so all of those folks who bike, then ride transit, are likely to give transit as their mode and the bike does not get counted.
This means the data is seriously underestimating the role of the bicycle in how people get to work.

[Washcycle]

Right. The survey question has been noted as a problem for a long time. Instead they should ask "what percentage of your commute is done using each of the following" and then list all the options they care about. Biking and walking would probably go up. Transit would go down.

[Jed]

I still think surveys of this kind severly undercount the urban poor. The statistics here list that 20% of Baltimoreans have no access to a car. That number is more like 33% according to ABELL and other foundations based in the city.

[Jed]

Also worth noting Baltimore doubled to .6 in this year's. It's a start!