Bike commuting data - in charts! 2017 edition

Here are some updated charts based on last week's ACS data. First we can see that bike commuting in the area is generally growing, and at a rate faster than the national average.

And I'll add that not only did DC set a new record high for bike commuting, but so did Arlington which now has a bike commute mode share similar to what DC was at in 2008. 

Since DC's share when up and most places went down, DC is now the 2nd fastest growing since 2000 among the top 5 bike commuting cities. Since 1990, we're the 4th fastest growing among major cities behind Detroit, Cleveland and Pittsburgh and tied with Chicago.

Despite a slowdown in commuting and climbing bike fatalities, the trends still show the former increasing and the latter decreasing.

 

Still, it was enough to raise the ratio of bike fatalities to bike commuters

A note: We've often used bike commuter data (itself significantly limited in both definition and methodology) as a proxy for bike use, but it may be that biking (BVMT) - in part due to bike sharing - is changing at a rate different than bike commuting. I just don't know. 

Comments

[Crickey]

My informal eyeball survey suggests bike commuting is still increasing. And I'm definitely seeing more ebikes.

[Richard B]

I'd say what about the data for traffic citations but the MPD thinks bikers get special permission to break the law whenever they want so the data is lacking at best.

[Roo_Beav]

I enjoy commuting to work by bike because it's so much faster than other ways, especially when I ride on the sidewalk like I'm in the Tour de France, blow through stop signs and lights, barge through crosswalks when pedestrians are present, weave around stopped traffic, bang on cars/spit on anybody who dares slows me down, etc. If I didn't get to do all these things, I'd drive solo to work. /s

[David Cranor]

Hey Richard, instead of trolling cyclists why don't you join us in trying to get the Mayor to do what the Bicycle and Pedestrian Act of 2015 required of her (in Sec 103) - Publish the dataset of all moving infractions, including for cyclists, every month. Then we could know if this is actually a problem.

[DE]

Because, RichardB, that has absolutely nothing to do with this particular post, which happens to be about the rates of bike commuting and, to a lesser extent, fatalities.

Anyway, I also am seeing a lot more eBikes. Those, along with the three new dockless bikeshare systems, may send numbers higher still locally.

[Ampersand]

After two terrible years of living three blocks from my office and having to walk to work, I have moved and now have a much more reasonable 2.5 mile bike commute again. It doesn't quiiiite line up, but that dip in 2013 and subsequent rise might be due to my temporary mode switch. I'm back, baby!

[Ampersand]

BTW, I would like to cordially invite RichardB to meet me on the corner of 15th and Mass NW at 6pm on a weeknight where we can observe and discuss a group of people who apparently have "special permission to break the law whenever they want" in a particularly egregious and dangerous way.

[drumz]

I'm glad the evidence is still showing that more riders means a lower fatality rate.

So much news in the past year or so about the rise in the total but nothing about whether things were actually more dangerous or not.

[Crickey]

Running a camera makes me more Zen. Sometimes I was legally in the right--heck, I'm always right--but I could be kind of a jerk. Now, I stick to my script: "Driver of vehicle with license plate XXX-XXXX. You are being filmed. If you do not stop [whatever], I will be turning this footage over to the MPD Second District {footnote: you can make this part up, totally, just sound authoritative)."

Just be loud.