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It's a catch 22. Less people ride bikes when the infrastructure sucks. In Washington, DC, 4.1 percent of working residents regularly commuted by bike last year

It's a catch 22. Less people ride bikes when the infrastructure sucks. In Washington, DC, 4.1 percent of working residents regularly commuted by bike last year; it was 3.8 percent in San Francisco, 2.3 percent in Philadelphia, 2 percent in Boston, 1.6 percent in Chicago, and 1 percent in NYC. NYC increased from .6 percent to 1 percent over the course of a few years by investing more heavily in bike infrastructure. One thing to keep in mind is that these numbers are for daily commuters. When you look at casual riders, people running errands, etc, and then hone in on certain neighborhoods the numbers can sky rocket. The Brooklyn chapter of Transportation Alternatives has done mode (of transportation) counts in certain neighborhoods and in many areas count 20-30% of all traffic on the street as being bikes, going over 50% in some neighborhoods for some sprints.

snogglethorpe 12y ago
Japan might be a partial counter-example to that.... There's traditionally been almost no dedicated bike routes or even lanes in Japan, although this has (very slowly) been improving a little in recent years and there's fairly extensive bike parking infrastructure in many places. Despite this, bike usage is very high in many parts of Japan, with numbers dwarfing anyplace in the U.S. (~20% mode share in some places). However, the situations aren't entirely comparable, as typical bike usage in Japan is fairly local (to local shops or between home and the station), with public transport being used for longer trips (thus the emphasis on bike parking around stations and other major destinations). Japanese urban layout, which clusters housing and commerce around the nodes of an extremely large and dense public transport network, tends to encourage such usage. Americans, as I understand it are more likely to view bicycling as an alternative to public transport rather than as an adjunct to it, and thus want faster speeds and more extensive bike routes.
- rdl 12y ago
  I don't think I'd ever consider taking a bike on BART, even though my commute is essentially optimal for bike + BART (15 min walk, BART for 10+15min, 15 min walk, each way, with SF commuter check paying the $3.30 each way fare). I'd rather BART+walk (which I tend to do on game days), or drive (which sucks because it's $4-6 bridge toll + $10 car operating costs + $12-90 to park, but can be done in 18-30 minutes each way, depending on traffic). Probably buying a street motorcycle as soon as my health insurance kicks in, though, which solves all of this.
  - snogglethorpe 12y ago
    People in Japan don't bring bikes on public transport either (it would be utterly unworkable given the crowding levels), but the transport network is generally structured so that most work/shopping destinations are a reasonable walk from transit. So it's typically only the "home" end where people use bikes, and suburban stations can have massive amounts of bike parking to accommodate people leaving their bikes there while they go off to work or play. [There's parking for many thousands of bikes around the biggest station near my house (distributed amongst many locations of varying sizes, some underground or multi-story)....and no car parking at all.] Because of that greater transit-network density in the more central areas, bike usage is generally greater in the suburbs and slightly less dense areas of the city.
    - rdl 12y ago
      I assume bike-theft in Japan is lower than in a place like Oakland (or even normal parts of the USA), so they can have high density vs. high-security bike parking, too.
      - snogglethorpe 12y ago
        So far as I'm aware, yes that's true... There is some theft but I think not so much the pervasive professional theft that seems to be an issue in some other places. The sort of giant bike lock which is pretty much standard equipment in the U.S. is something you almost never see in Japan.... When people lock their bikes at all, it's mostly with very simple locks, thin cable or just a sort of built-in thing that stops the wheels from rotating. That's enough to discourage very casual (or accidental) theft. I guess partly it's cultural, but also compared to the modern U.S., I think expensive high-end bikes are less common in Japan, so maybe bike theft is also less profitable. [Though I have seen obviously very expensive carbon fiber road bikes and the like just locked up in an alleyway with a thin cheap cable lock...!]

snogglethorpe 12y ago

Japan might be a partial counter-example to that.... There's traditionally been almost no dedicated bike routes or even lanes in Japan, although this has (very slowly) been improving a little in recent years and there's fairly extensive bike parking infrastructure in many places. Despite this, bike usage is very high in many parts of Japan, with numbers dwarfing anyplace in the U.S. (~20% mode share in some places). However, the situations aren't entirely comparable, as typical bike usage in Japan is fairly local (to local shops or between home and the station), with public transport being used for longer trips (thus the emphasis on bike parking around stations and other major destinations). Japanese urban layout, which clusters housing and commerce around the nodes of an extremely large and dense public transport network, tends to encourage such usage. Americans, as I understand it are more likely to view bicycling as an alternative to public transport rather than as an adjunct to it, and thus want faster speeds and more extensive bike routes.

rdl 12y ago
I don't think I'd ever consider taking a bike on BART, even though my commute is essentially optimal for bike + BART (15 min walk, BART for 10+15min, 15 min walk, each way, with SF commuter check paying the $3.30 each way fare). I'd rather BART+walk (which I tend to do on game days), or drive (which sucks because it's $4-6 bridge toll + $10 car operating costs + $12-90 to park, but can be done in 18-30 minutes each way, depending on traffic). Probably buying a street motorcycle as soon as my health insurance kicks in, though, which solves all of this.
- snogglethorpe 12y ago
  People in Japan don't bring bikes on public transport either (it would be utterly unworkable given the crowding levels), but the transport network is generally structured so that most work/shopping destinations are a reasonable walk from transit. So it's typically only the "home" end where people use bikes, and suburban stations can have massive amounts of bike parking to accommodate people leaving their bikes there while they go off to work or play. [There's parking for many thousands of bikes around the biggest station near my house (distributed amongst many locations of varying sizes, some underground or multi-story)....and no car parking at all.] Because of that greater transit-network density in the more central areas, bike usage is generally greater in the suburbs and slightly less dense areas of the city.
  - rdl 12y ago
    I assume bike-theft in Japan is lower than in a place like Oakland (or even normal parts of the USA), so they can have high density vs. high-security bike parking, too.
    - snogglethorpe 12y ago
      So far as I'm aware, yes that's true... There is some theft but I think not so much the pervasive professional theft that seems to be an issue in some other places. The sort of giant bike lock which is pretty much standard equipment in the U.S. is something you almost never see in Japan.... When people lock their bikes at all, it's mostly with very simple locks, thin cable or just a sort of built-in thing that stops the wheels from rotating. That's enough to discourage very casual (or accidental) theft. I guess partly it's cultural, but also compared to the modern U.S., I think expensive high-end bikes are less common in Japan, so maybe bike theft is also less profitable. [Though I have seen obviously very expensive carbon fiber road bikes and the like just locked up in an alleyway with a thin cheap cable lock...!]