The Census' 2013 American Community Survey data is out, and the DC area continues to show gains in bike commuting. In DC, bike commuting when up from 4.1% of all commuters last year to 4.5%, meaning that for the first time, more people bike commute to work than work from home. Driving is down to 37.6% from 39.7%, walking is up to 13.6% from 11.9%, and transit dropped a little from 38.6% to 38.5%. More people are taking motorcycles or cabs too.
As a result, DC now has a higher rate of bike commuting than Minneapolis, Seattle and San Francisco. Not that it's a competition. (But if it were, we'd be winning). DC is now the #2 bike commuting major city in the US (behind Portland).
Also, DC has shown the fastest growth in bike commuting.
Meanwhile,
Arlington is up to 1.7% from 1.2% and Alexandria is also at 1.7% up from 1.3%. Which is more than a 30% increase for both.
Silver Spring is up to 0.8% from 0.6% last year.
Advice on how best to separate out the bike numbers for local areas would be much appreciated!
Posted by: Greenbelt | September 18, 2014 at 01:20 PM
You mean how did I make that chart?
Posted by: washcycle | September 18, 2014 at 01:29 PM
Yeah, like how would I get a similar chart looking at Prince George's or College Park (if that's a big enough jurisdiation) etc.?
Posted by: Greenbelt | September 18, 2014 at 02:20 PM
Clearly, there is some higher plateau that cycling will reach, probably more slowly than the current growth rate. My guess is that few American cities will go much above 8%, and probably none above 10%.
Posted by: Crickey7 | September 18, 2014 at 02:22 PM
I'd look to maybe Plateau/Montreal for a North American plateau point (so to speak), which probably has close to 10% already. I wouldn't be surprised if DC could above 10% if all the cycletracks in the MoveDC plan were built, since we have better weather for cycling in winter. To get above 10% would require a lot of protected/separated infrastructure to draw in more casual cyclists I would think.
Posted by: Greenbelt | September 18, 2014 at 02:36 PM
It is a competition, and I'm helping, damnit.
I think to get above 10%, you'd also need less sprawl (hard to imagine) or people moving closer to where they work. No one is going to bike from Fredricksburg to DC.
Posted by: DE | September 18, 2014 at 02:43 PM
I think 10% for the whole sprawled out region is out of sight for a long, long time -- I was just thinking that 10% or more for DC wouldn't be impossible!
There does seem to be more within-suburb commuting, but nowhere near as much as DC, and lots of it is bike to transit, which would be counted as transit in the ACS survey I think, since it's the longer let in most cases.
Posted by: Greenbelt | September 18, 2014 at 02:49 PM
Although I realize the flaw in that as stated--those would be Fredricksburg numbers, not DC.
4.5% is going to make Courtland very angry.
Posted by: DE | September 18, 2014 at 02:49 PM
Greenbelt.
1. Go to this link http://www.census.gov/acs/www/ and click on "2013 ACS 1 year estimates"
2. In the topic or table box enter "S0801: COMMUTING CHARACTERISTICS BY SEX "
3. In the state, county or Place box put in "Prince George's County"
4. Click Go
5. Click on the "commuting characteristics by sex" link below that.
PG County is 0.4%. College Park is not an option.
Posted by: washcycle | September 18, 2014 at 03:01 PM
Thanks
Posted by: Greenbelt | September 18, 2014 at 03:18 PM
If DC is at 4.5 with it's current small amount of protected lanes, I look forward to seeing the rate climb much higher as more protected lanes are created. It's exciting.
Posted by: Jay Gee | September 19, 2014 at 09:49 AM
Hate to rain on your parade, but you're only talking about the point estimates without considering the margins of error.
2013: 4.5% +/-0.6%
2012: 4.1% +/-0.8%
The sample sizes in the 1-year ACS are too small to meaningfully say for certain that bike commuting is up.
But it sure does feel good to see the number trending up.
Posted by: Roo_Beav | September 19, 2014 at 10:45 AM
The error bars are moving up. That's good enough for me.
Posted by: washcycle | September 19, 2014 at 10:56 AM
Whatever the real numbers, we can be confidant the cycling to work is more than a short-term fad.
Posted by: SJE | September 22, 2014 at 04:26 PM
Due to the small sample sizes, the year-to-year fluctuations and point-in-time comparisons between similar jurisdictions are not meaningful. However, the general long-term trend of increased bicycle commuting in the core of the DC region is clear.
Posted by: Allen Muchnick | September 24, 2014 at 09:34 PM
Top 500 cities in the US where people bike or walk to work:
http://www.towncharts.com/Top-500-Cities-in-the-US-for-People-Who-Bicycle-Or-Walk-To-Work.html
Posted by: Larry Morris | November 12, 2014 at 04:52 PM