Blog
2010 Bike Commuting Data released
For the third year in a row, data released by the US Census Bureau’s American Community Survey show that more than half of one percent of American workers use a bicycle as their primary mode of transportation to work. While this number represents nearly 40 percent growth since 2000, it also shows that we still have a lot of work to do in making our communities truly welcoming to bicyclists.
Updated with graph:
Kate Powlison at Bikes Belong put together this very attractive graph using the data to show the growth of bike commuting since 2000 in the largest Bicycle Friendly Communities, non-BFCs, and the national rate.
See the bike commuter estimates for the 375 cities for which the ACS released bike commuter numbers.
A look at the country’s 70 largest cities shows that the communities that have done the most to promote bicycling through engineering, education, encouragement, enforcement, and evaluation – determined by the League’s Bicycle Friendly America program – have seen greater increases in bike commuting over the past decade than non-Bicycle Friendly Communities.
Since 2005, the 38 Bicycle Friendly Communities among the 70 largest cities saw a 95 percent average increase in bicycle commuting. In contrast, the 32 non-Bicycle Friendly Communities (among the largest 70) grew 46 percent. Since 2000, large Bicycle Friendly Communities grew 78 percent, compared to 55 percent for large non-BFCs.
You can see the variations on the year-by-year table of bike commuting levels for the 70 largest US cities, but overall the general and the specific city trends are upward.
At a time when Congress is debating the future of key funding sources for bicycling projects, these cities are showing what can be done with smart investments, including Transportation Enhancements, and innovative facilities.
Tables:
2010 Bike Commuter Statistics for 375 cities (all cities over 65,000 population that had bike commuter estimates)
2000 – 2010 Bike Commuter Statistics for 70 Largest US Cities
ACS limitations, notes, and cautions
- The ACS asks only about commuting. It does not tell us about bicycling for non-work purposes.
- Results are based on a survey of a sample of the population. Surveys take place throughout the year. The journey to work question asks respondents about the previous week.
- The journey to work question asks about the primary mode of transportation to work. The wording of the question undercounts the actual amount of bike commuting that occurs. It does not count people who rode once or twice a week or people who bike to transit (if the transit leg is longer than the bike leg).
- Since the ACS is a survey of a sample, the results are estimates. The ACS releases a margin of error along with the estimate. Users can add and subtract the margin of error value from the estimate to find the top and bottom of the range within which the ACS is 90 percent confident in their estimate lies. Refer to the 2010 city table for margins of error.
- Changes among years may not be statistically significant. Be cautious when drawing conclusions based on one year changes. Look at the trend over a number of years.
- The numbers reported here are for the “principal city,” not the larger Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA).
- UPDATE: A note of caution from the US Census Bureau: ”The 2009 ACS and 2010 ACS 1-year estimates use different Census base years for the population estimates used in the ACS weighting. Estimates of population size are not comparable between 2009 and 2010. Estimates of percent distributions, rates, and ratios should be compared with caution. For more details, visit the ACS Research Note Change in Population Controls [PDF 366K].” The Bureau is urging users to use caution in interpreting the results, but not suggesting that users avoid comparisons all together.
- For detailed questions about methodology, contact the American Community Survey Office at 301-763-9810.
Darren Flusche
League Policy Director
Flusche joined the League in April 2009 and has a B.A. in history from Syracuse University and a Masters of Public Administration with a concentration in public policy analysis from New York University.
Subscribe
September 23rd, 2011 at 5:31 pm
Great job on the caveats of the ACS numbers, Darren. I wish others would do the same. Too often these numbers are portrayed as something much more accurate for some cities than they really are. In worst cases, these numbers are extrapolated to represent bicycle mode share. As I’ve told three media sources just this week, we just don’t have accurate bicycling numbers for you in Detroit… yet.
September 24th, 2011 at 10:41 am
Awesome steps in the right direction!!!
September 24th, 2011 at 1:59 pm
[...] 2010 Bike Commuting Data released [...]
September 24th, 2011 at 3:17 pm
Great work compiling all that info into easy to read spreadsheets Darren and LAB!
September 24th, 2011 at 11:42 pm
[...] League of American Bicyclists announced their analysis of 2010 bicycle commute data based on the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey transportation data for 375 cities in the [...]
September 25th, 2011 at 1:56 pm
So, Waco Texas has no male bike commuters at all? Not even the dishwashers that lock their bikes at the back of the local restaurants?
Regardless of the warts on the data, it is good to see the League making it available to the larger public.
September 26th, 2011 at 8:59 am
[...] League of American Bicyclists Releases Analysis on US Commuting Data (BikeLeague) [...]
September 26th, 2011 at 11:42 am
Thanks, Darren. And, as Todd Scott said, thanks for all the caveats. Advocates are sometimes guilty of sugar coating data to paste on the best smiley face possible. We do better when we say up front what the limitations are, and then put the smiley face on it!
Steve, I wonder if those diswashers are among those “invisible cyclists” who are not interviewed by ACS nor pictured on the cover of Bicycling Magazine. Your papers, please…
September 26th, 2011 at 1:29 pm
Given that the margins of error for individual cities often rival the raw number of bike commuters, it’s important not to put much faith in any particular data point here. For example, does anyone believe that all bike commuters in Richmond, CA are female? Preposterous.
Still, over time, long-term trends for individual cities and the nation do reveal themselves.
September 26th, 2011 at 2:35 pm
[...] looking at the LAB’s just released 2010 data on bicycle commute mode share. The LAB analyzed U.S. Census American Community Survey data from 375 cities to estimate the numbers of bike commuters in those cities. Davis, California tops [...]
September 26th, 2011 at 7:51 pm
I’m not surprised that California cities rank highly on the ACS results for bicycle commuting. I’m a little surprised that Davis saw bicycle commuting increase to 22%. Very curious.
September 27th, 2011 at 9:18 am
[...] Data and better explanation of the limitations of the the ACS data can be found on the League’s blog post, full data for 2010 is available, as is a data sheet of the 70 largest US cities over the last [...]
September 28th, 2011 at 2:32 am
[...] Census: Bike commuting increases 22 percent in Seattle Posted about 1 hour ago | 0 comment Share Tweet The number of Seattle residents who bike to work increased 22 percent from 2009 to 2010, according to an analysis of census data by the League of American Bicyclists. [...]
September 29th, 2011 at 6:10 am
[...] More people identify a bicycle as their primary means of transportation. Take a look at 2010 commuting data. (League of American Bicyclists) [...]
September 29th, 2011 at 7:09 pm
[...] this week, the League of American Bicyclists released bike commuting figures from the American Community Survey (ACS). While the ACS numbers [...]
September 29th, 2011 at 7:24 pm
[...] Bike Commuting Census Data Released [...]
September 30th, 2011 at 3:14 pm
Thanks for spreading the word about both the data collected and the limitations of this data. It would be interesting to see data that would fill in some of the gaps caused by the limitations you mentioned. For instance, it would be interesting to see the percentage of people who use bike transportation as one of several methods of commuting but don’t consider it their primary mode of transportation to work.