Thank you, thank you to the 531 BikePGH Members who took the time to give their 2 cents in our membership survey!

Bike Pittsburgh is proud to be entering our 10th Anniversary year in 2012. 2011 was a banner year for BikePGH with many exciting changes and opportunities. We wanted to take stock of our membership to see where we are currently and to help shape the year to come. People of all backgrounds and ages ride bicycles and it is important to us that our membership is reflective of such.

Out of approximately 1700 members, nearly 1/3 took the time to let us know about themselves. Based on the responses garnered, much of our membership is young (under 40), educated, and middle class. Approximately 32% of the members are age 25-35 (see chart below) and over 1/3 are women, with the vast majority having a college degree or post-graduate education, and 71% owning their home.

Our base remains racially homogenous with 96% identifying as at least partially caucasian, and only 2% each being black or African American, Latino or Hispanic, or Asian. This is an area that we are continuing to work on by partnering with the Major Taylor Cycling Club, and a number of different community groups.

Bicycling has become a regular part of life for many of you with 32% identifying it as your secondary mode of transportation after the automobile. One quarter reported using a bicycle for transportation and over one third reported commuting by bike, each at least three times per week.

Even with this great lifestyle, the majority of riders (60.1%) only feel fairly safe on the streets of Pittsburgh, with only about 10% feeling completely safe, and 6.4% still feeling not at all safe. This is a huge concern that we will continue to work hard on. In order to address this, you listed the top factors for feeling safer and riding more were reducing speed of aggressive driving (64.3%), smoother road surface and fewer potholes (61.2)%, more bike lanes along your route (56.9%), and separated bike facilities– cycle tracks and car free routes throughout the city (53.3%).

The survey indicated that our members prefer to receive information via email, as the majority of our members keep in touch via our newsletter, The eMessenger, and only check the blog, Facebook, and Twitter occasionally. As BikePGH changes and grows, are membership does as well (check out the map below for a comparison between 2009 and January 2012). We’re looking forward to a great year with an eye towards building an even wider membership base to represent. Thank you again to our great members! Your feedback is vital. It lets us know where your priorities lie and helps to shape the future of BikePGH. We are a member-based organization and literally couldn’t do our important work without you!

Here is a brief break-down of what our members had to say:

GENDER

65.8% men; 33.6% women; 0.6% trans; 0.4% other

AGE

Click chart to enlarge

~32% between ages 25-34

Approximately 20% of the respondents made up each decade between ages 35-64

RACE/ETHNICITY

Click chart to enlarge

EDUCATION

40.5% are college graduates

50.7% have post-graduate education

MEMBERSHIP LOCATION (2009 vs. 2012)

Click map to enlarge

TYPES OF RIDING

44% Ride for Transportation around town 3+ times per week

HIGHEST % MODES OF TRANSPORTATION

Primary: 55.7% Automobile

Secondary: 32.7% Biking is most of our members second choice for getting around

Tertiary: 40.5% Claim Public Transit as their third choice

SAFETY RIDING ON THE PGH STREETS

0.2% feel completely safe

9.8% feel very safe

60.1% feel fairly safe

21.3% feel slightly safe

6.4% feel not at all safe

WHY BE A BikePGH MEMBER

95.6%- To support Bike Pittsburgh’s efforts to improve and promote bicycling

86.9% – To help make our streets safer

86.5% – To help make Pittsburgh a better place to live

79% – To be represented as a bicyclist

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Not a member of BikePGH? Join today! We need you to add your voice! Bike Pittsburgh works to protect cyclist’s rights and promote the vision of making Pittsburgh a safer and more enjoyable place to live and to ride. For more info, check out: www.bike-pgh.org/membership