Bike commuting rises 37.5 percent in Pittsburgh from 2006 to 2007
The results from the US Census Bureau’s annual American Community Survey was just released on September 23rd, and we’ve taken a liking to looking at America’s commuting trends.
Last year, we published the results of the 60 largest cities in the States, and how their residents get to work.
In 2006, Pittsburgh ranked in the top 15 cities in the country for number of city residents that commute by bike with .8 percent. This year, even more people decided to commute on two wheels, increasing our percentage to 1.1, putting us in the top 11 cities, tied with Chicago and Honolulu.
For walking to work, we remained in second place next to Boston with an impressive 12% of us using our own feet.
Hopefully, with the addition of a Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinator in the Planning Department, these numbers will continue to rise. Combined with gas prices, it will be interesting to see what the numbers are for 2008. Considering how inexpensive bike and ped improvements are compared to say highway projects (think Mon-Fay), we hope that even more resources will be dedicated to helping Pittsburghers get around by their own power. Fortunately, we see the city recognizing that this is the cheapest way to transport people, so we’re heading in that direction.
Sadly, the numbers show a decrease in transit usage from last year.
Some other interesting things (at least we think they are)
- Approximately 1 in 3 Pittsburghers get to work without a personal vehicle
- Approximately 1 in 8 Pittsburgh workers have no car available
- We are in the top ten in least number of people transporting themselves in single occupancy vehicles
- We are also in the top ten in number of people using transit
You can toggle between the different categories at the bottom of the chart. Simply click to sort.
NEWSLETTER
5 Comments
That is really amazing news. I’ve been in Austin for about 2 days and they’ve got really great infrastructure in place: bike lanes, bike routes, bike/pedestrian only paths all over the city – and it’s flat as a melted ice cube.
There are bikes everywhere here, so it’s amazing to see that Pittsburgh really is a major biking city according to this.
And congrats on the new ‘sliberty bike lane!
[…] to the US Census, 12.6% of Pittsburgh workers do not have access to a car, ranking us at eighth in the nation. Business-as-usual just won’t cut […]
It’s a good start, Pittsburgh! I understand that the Bicycle Coordinator want to see Pittsburgh apply for Bicycle Friendly Community status by 2010. I think he’s got a tough job ahead of him. Pittsburgh is a great city, but the main problem is the old streets and ingrained habits. There is going to be a LOT of education needed on both sides for bicycles to coexist with motor vehicle traffic. Many of our streets are too crowded for either side to hog the road.
I work on the Baum Corridor and I’ve seen more than a few bicycles ridden in an unsafe manner, weaving in and out of traffic and almost hitting pedestrians. This does not help our cause. I’ve also seen a number of motor vehicles coming way too close to bicycles, and pedestrians with the legal right of way, when there was plenty of space to move over.
It is going to take a lot of courtesy on both sides and some changes in traffic patterns for this to work.
[…] news for the large number of Pittsburgh’s walking commuters. According to the US Census, approximately 12% of Pittsburgh Residents walk to work, ranking us second in the nation after Boston. When you throw in another 18% of […]
[…] 2007 City Commuting trends […]