Ridership data demonstrate massive growth in bicycle use in DC

[Anonymous]

A quick overview of the data is here: https://www.planetizen.com/news/2024/09/131901-dc-micromobility-use-keeps-growing?amp

These numbers come from actual trips recorded by CaBi docking stations.

There is someone on this forum who incessantly posts variations of results from the American Community Survey (ACS) in a quixotic effort to show that cycling is not becoming more popular.

This would be akin to arguing that Kamala Harris won the election on the basis of a particular combination of opinion polls that had her ahead of Donald Trump. Actually, it’s much worse than that because the designers of the ACS put very little effort into meaningfully measuring bicycle use.

If you want to believe that kind of nonsense, go ahead, but no one who has the slightest bit of knowledge of statistics or transportation patterns would read anything into the ACS numbers.

[Anonymous]

+1. But they’ll just claim the data is falsified.

[Anonymous]

All of the great cities in the world - New York, London, Paris, Tokyo, Chicago and so on - are very easy to navigate with a car, whether by public transport, cycling, scootering, or walking.

Many other cities - Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Medellin and so on - have made themselves into great places to live and visit by implementing measures to reduce car dependence.

And then you have cities like Houston and Los Angeles, where a car is essential to absolutely everything and, despite relentless highway construction, still manage to suck their residents’ life away with horrendous congestion.

[Anonymous]

What's the average length of the rides? Note that most of the increase is almost certainly due to the newish ebikes that are available. The Bikeshare bikes are too heavy for any serious riders to pedal up and down the hills of DC.

[Anonymous]

I have been cycling 10 miles to work and back along the CCT for the last 25 years. I have no doubt that the number of cyclists has been increasing over that time, albeit most of them are e-bikes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have been cycling 10 miles to work and back along the CCT for the last 25 years. I have no doubt that the number of cyclists has been increasing over that time, albeit most of them are e-bikes.

I've been commuting through DC for the past 8 years. The one thing I see people doing less of is one-wheeling. They were big around 2017, but are seldom seen now. Other than that, the use of most other micro-mobility modes has exploded. e-Bikes, e-scooters, regular bikes, and so forth. I'm shocked at how busy the bike racks at my office are and the downtown bike lanes see very heavy usage during the morning and evening rush hours. I can't believe that there are people out there who (apparently want to) believe that this is not happening. They only need to open their eyes!

[Anonymous]

Here’s a great write up of the bike use records:

https://ggwash.org/view/97337/bikeshare-beat-for-the-fifth-straight-month-cabi-breaks-ridership-record

Awesome stuff. Biking is becoming more and more popular in DC!

[Anonymous]

An scientific study shows that bike sharing in DC has actually reduced congestion: https://www.itskrs.its.dot.gov/2020-b01452

This is an interesting counterpoint to those who claim that bike lanes have the opposite effect.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:An scientific study shows that bike sharing in DC has actually reduced congestion: https://www.itskrs.its.dot.gov/2020-b01452

This is an interesting counterpoint to those who claim that bike lanes have the opposite effect.

Except the physical changes increase congestion, which is what they are designed to do, by over 20% so it's still a large net negative.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:An scientific study shows that bike sharing in DC has actually reduced congestion: https://www.itskrs.its.dot.gov/2020-b01452

This is an interesting counterpoint to those who claim that bike lanes have the opposite effect.

Except the physical changes increase congestion, which is what they are designed to do, by over 20% so it's still a large net negative.

Where are you getting 20% from? They certainly aren't allocating 20% of road space to bike lanes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:An scientific study shows that bike sharing in DC has actually reduced congestion: https://www.itskrs.its.dot.gov/2020-b01452

This is an interesting counterpoint to those who claim that bike lanes have the opposite effect.

Except the physical changes increase congestion, which is what they are designed to do, by over 20% so it's still a large net negative.

Where are you getting 20% from? They certainly aren't allocating 20% of road space to bike lanes.

True. Also true is that, in many cases, the installation of bike lanes that remove parking will reduce congestion. People going in and out of parking spaces holds up all of the traffic behind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:An scientific study shows that bike sharing in DC has actually reduced congestion: https://www.itskrs.its.dot.gov/2020-b01452

This is an interesting counterpoint to those who claim that bike lanes have the opposite effect.

Except the physical changes increase congestion, which is what they are designed to do, by over 20% so it's still a large net negative.

Where are you getting 20% from? They certainly aren't allocating 20% of road space to bike lanes.

In terms of protected bike lanes (which are not used for free parking, most of the time), it’s 35 miles out of 1,500 miles of road. The lanes take up at most 20% of the road, so it’s 0.2 * 35/1500 =0.005%

The amount of whining that goes on about the use of 0.005% of road space in DC is phenomenal!

Get a better hobby, NIMBYs!

[Anonymous]

The OP in the other thread on this topic is a classic example of how universal access to information makes society worse off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:An scientific study shows that bike sharing in DC has actually reduced congestion: https://www.itskrs.its.dot.gov/2020-b01452

This is an interesting counterpoint to those who claim that bike lanes have the opposite effect.

Except the physical changes increase congestion, which is what they are designed to do, by over 20% so it's still a large net negative.

Where are you getting 20% from? They certainly aren't allocating 20% of road space to bike lanes.

That's an underestimate. Almost all of the bike lane projects involve taking away a general traffc lane. This study, which was a whopping 3%, is not only statistically insignificant but also has a disengenuous headline. That 3% reduction is not in comparison to the beforehand configuration but rather the new configuration. The new configuration is what increases congestion significantly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:An scientific study shows that bike sharing in DC has actually reduced congestion: https://www.itskrs.its.dot.gov/2020-b01452

This is an interesting counterpoint to those who claim that bike lanes have the opposite effect.

Except the physical changes increase congestion, which is what they are designed to do, by over 20% so it's still a large net negative.

Where are you getting 20% from? They certainly aren't allocating 20% of road space to bike lanes.

That's an underestimate. Almost all of the bike lane projects involve taking away a general traffc lane. This study, which was a whopping 3%, is not only statistically insignificant but also has a disengenuous headline. That 3% reduction is not in comparison to the beforehand configuration but rather the new configuration. The new configuration is what increases congestion significantly.

Many of these bike lane projects do not remove traffic lanes but rather parking. The removal of parking improves traffic flow and so reduces congestion.

As is discussed in the WaPo article, the removal of traffic lanes to create protected bike lanes is the feature, not the bug. The city has massive problems with speeding and other crazy driving on four lane roads.

Installing a bike lane just happens to be the cheapest way to remove lanes.