Bicycle Austin forum

MichaelBluejay

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From: Austin, TX

Registered: 2008-05-26

Posts: 1,466

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Percentage of commuters bicycling to work

I looked up the stats and found that we're making essentially no progress.

Whenever the percentage goes up a tiny amount, various outlets trumpet it as big news, but the percentage is so tiny to begin with, after any increase it's still tiny.  E.g., if we *doubled* Austin's bike commuting rate, we'd be at a piddling 2.4%.  It reminds me of the famous quote by Curly of The Three Stooges:  "Two times nothin' is nothin'!"

Percentage of workers who bike to work

              Austin   U.S.
      ----------------------
      2017     1.2     0.5
      2016     1.5     0.6
      2015     1.3     0.6
      2014     1.3     0.6
      2013     1.4     0.6
      2012     1.6     0.6
      2011     1.9     0.6
      2010     1.0     0.5
      2009     1.0     0.6
      2008     1.3     0.5
      2007     0.9     0.5
      2006     0.9     0.5
      2005     1.3     0.4

You can see the drop from 2012-13 when I stopped biking.

Source: American Community Survey (project of U.S. Census)

Cities doing way better than Austin

         

Cities with the biggest gains in bike commuting

         
Source: People for Bikes