I know that we have some really enthusiastic cyclists on this board, so I'd like to channel some of your energy during the National Bike Documentation Project. I've come up with two easy ways for each of you to participate in our efforts.
The first is to have you "adopt" a bike rack near where you work or live, and have you count the number of bikes at that rack one or more days next week. Our preference would be for a count at the rack during a standard business day, so if you arrive at teh rack at 6 a.m. usage at that time of day might not be truly "typical." If you could commit to counting the same rack (or racks) multiple days next week, that would be even more helpful.
You can report your "findings" to me via email at Swalfoort at spcregion dot org. We are, of course, sharing all this data with BP and the City of Pittsburgh....... we are just the archivers of bike count data to date, so we are a reasonable data collection entity.
If you can't commit to an "adopt a rack" program, perhaps you could help in a third way. That would be to simply count the number of bicycles you see on a given day next week, and whether they were moving or parked. We are modeling this very broad brush count effort after the Audobon Society's Great Outdoor bird count. We know that several of you will count the same bike(s) as riders move through the City. But, we often get asked "well, how many cyclists ARE there in the City." That's a question that we are unable to answer at present. This might be a way to make a WAG. The other "value" to this sort of "count what you see program" is that it migth help us identify those secret locations where we SHOULD be doing formal bike counts, but currently don't. So, a full response to this endeavor would be "I went from Brighton Heights to Shadyside to Lawrencville to Brighton Heights and saw 30 bikes, 10 of which were parked at racks."
I know this is very general information. But, you are our eyes on the streets, and maybe you see thinkgs that we don't. This is a first attempt to capture what you see.
Any questions? Email me at Swalfoort at spcregion dot org. No need to commit up front. Just send me the data if you decide to participate.
One cyclist who moves through the city and is counted ten times is riding a lot and deserves to be counted extra times.
The answer to the question, how many cyclists are there is "135,471". Give or take a couple. I mean, what is a cyclist, anyway? I think it's "someone who rode a bike once before, or might ride one in the future."
Can't make any promises, but I'm going to try to get out to Ikea in Robinson real early and count cyclists there for a while. There is a small but steady trickle of bikes there, believe it or not.
@Stu - That would be awesome. I wanted to try to do that area, but it wasn't high enough on the priority list to include in this request. We'll take counts ANYWHERE that is convenient to a willing volunteer. We want to make sure that our two dozen or so "perpetual" locations are covered, of course, so we can establish timeline data for them.
Because I'm personally curious, I'd like to count at the corner of Washington Blvd and ARB. I'm only good for Friday, though.
During the week, I'll count at the racks at the offices, Monroeville and Cranberry (unofficial Cranberry average that I've noticed for all racks is about 5 daily, which I think is incredible for an exurban corporate office surrounded entirely by the junctions of ~4 major highways).
I can count the three Gateway Center racks downtown every day but Tuesday next week
- by Stanwix at Gateway 2
- closer to Ft Duquesne Blvd by Gateway 1
- by Gateway 3 and the Hilton
@ejwme and pinky -- awesome. Thank you. We have done bike counts on ARB (at Nadine) in the past, and have traditionally seen about half a dozen cyclists during each the morning and afternoon commuter hours. I'll be sure to feed the Cranberry rack count numbers to Cranberry Township as well. They are doing their own bikeing/walking review of the Township right now, so the information will be very timely.
Is this city only? I walk past the Mt Lebo T stop rack at least once a day.
Absolutely NOT just City. We'd love to have some County data as well. Stu has volunteered to contribute some data from Robinson. Mt. Lebanon data would be great. Just let me know what time of day, and how many bikes at the rack. You can PM me, or just relpy to this. (It would help to also know ABOUT how many bikes the rack can hold.)
In my mind, a Three Rivers Rack has a capacity of two. Most of the "stick the front wheel in" type racks (campus style, or toaster style) have a functional capacity of about one less than it appears they are designed for. (Have you ever been the last bike to the rack, only to find the only available spot is somewhere in the middle? Oh, knowing this crowd, of course you have!)
If you are counting at a rack, let me know if you see any bikes parked nearby to parking meters, trees, etc., if you think of it.
Thanks!
Will do. Just let me know a day and time you'd like a count for. We're typically thru there at 9a. Saw three today, the rack would hold 5.
Count anytime you happen past. Suburban racks may have different use patterns than downtown/urban racks. Thanks!
Not surprisingly, the FedEx Ground rack had zero today. Zero is a very common number, followed distantly by one. The best I've ever seen is four.
Monroeville's "Westinghouse Energy Center" had 3 (including mine) at 7:30AM this morning. Cranberry Westinghouse Headquarters (on Westinghouse drive) has had 2 that I saw today (down from the 4 average all summer, but I'll check more regularly today).
I didn't see anybody count me anywhere, but I leave too early in the AM and go places nobody expects.
@ejwme - your comment "I didn't see anybody count me anywhere, but I leave too early in the AM and go places nobody expects" is EXACTLY why we are doing the rack counts as well as the cyclist counts. People come from all over, at all hours. We can't possibly catch them all while they are on the road. But, they might stay still long enough to catch them at the racks...!
The other side of the rack count question is to identify when, and where, we need more racks.
@ejwme - if you PM me your email address, I can send you a worksheet for your bike count at Washington Blvd at ARB on Friday. If you sent it already, I seem to have lost track of it....sorry, need it again in that case.
Well, the results are in for the Robinson/Moon area (today being 9-16-2010).
Big surprise #1: Zero cyclists at/past/near Ikea this morning. I was there from 8a to 9a.
Big surprise #2: Zero bicycles tied up at FedEx Ground HQ atop the big hill, any day this week.
At Ikea, the weather was kinda crappy: Grey, threatening rain, actually did rain hard for about 30 seconds (so, wet streets).
Things I was looking for: Bikes on the main road past Robinson Town Center and Ikea, bikes heading behind RTC, bikes headed through Ikea's parking lot to avoid traffic on the main road, bikes on the fronts of buses, bikes headed to the back of Ikea or Toys R Us from the little back entrance by the theaters. I think that covers everything.
FWIW, I didn't see anyone, bike or jogger, on the Montour Trail when I crossed it, either. That's unusual. I guess it was just a crappy enough day that nobody dared go out without metal around them.
So I asked some coworkers from other parts of town to send me info, I'm compiling that. BUT - apparently there's a few people who actually bike regularly in Cranberry. I met a man in the elevator today who regularly bikes TO work (but he lives in Cranberry, and I didn't get a chance to ask him where he stashes his bike, because he doesn't use the racks, the regular bikes there are not his size).
I even heard about a guy (coworker of a coworker) who bikes TO Cranberry FROM EXPORT, multiple times a week (like twice), ~40 miles one way. That just confirms my suspicions that I am a lazy good-for-nothing who is too wussy to haul myself up through Allegheny Valley to work. I will work on that. Sigh.
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