Converting to bicycle commuting is all the rage in U.S. cities, if the proliferation of blogs devoted to the topic is any indication. But we wanted to know: Just how big have increases in the percentage of bike commuters been in specific cities? Are there regional differences? Cities where bike commuting isn’t catching on at all? We surveyed 55 major U.S. cities to see if we could find the answer. While there are stark differences across individual cities, taken as a group these metros saw an average increase in their percentage of regular bicycle commuters of 70 percent between 2000 and 2009.
Grouped into five regions (Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, Northwest, Southwest), clear differences emerge. The Northwest had the highest average percent of commuters who bike and the third largest increase in ridership (83 percent), while the Northeast saw the highest increase (127 percent) in that commuting demographic over the course of the decade. The Midwest also performed very well, with a 106 percent increase. The Southwest and Southeast had the lowest overall increase, and include eight of the nine cities that saw a decrease since 2000.
Read the entire article at: Atlantic Cities
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