Top 7 Cycling Trends in NYC

The past two decades saw a big growth of cycling in New York City. Here are the Top 7 Cycling Trends in NYC!

 

In a 2019 Citywide Mobility Survey, 33% or approximately 2 million people rode a bike at least once, while around 900,000 people rode the bike regularly. There are around 510,000 cycling trips in NYC (U.S Census Bureau’s American Community Survey Journey, 2018). Thus, the New York City Department of Transportation (DOT) has been putting policies in place to ensure the bikers’ safety.

 

In the mid-1990s, the DOT created a bicycle program to monitor the cycling community’s development. In 2007, PlaNYC was released to accelerate efforts to achieve a more sustainable city. Last year, the Green Wave plan was developed to lessen cycling fatalities.

 

As of 2019, there are already 1,301 lane miles of bike lanes installed all over the city and 501 lane miles of protected bike lanes. Over the course of the years, there have been different cycling trends observed.

 

Top 7 Cycling Trends in NYC

 

Here are the top 7:

 

Daily and Annual Cycling

 

Based on the census data provided by the Decennial Census and the American Community Survey (ACS), Journey to Work data showed that there had been an upward trend when it comes to using bicycles to commute.

 

There has been a 116% growth in daily cycling within the ten-years period of 2008 to 2018. There’s also a 35% growth in daily cycling between 2013 and 2018.

 

Commuters usually make two commute trips per day. The results of the research show the bicycle commute accounts for one-in-five travel trips in New York City.

 

Seasonal Variation

 

The participants of the Citywide Mobility Survey asked to document their bicycle trips in a week. Based on the results, there are about 580,000 cycling trips made in NYC per day between April and October.

 

The results were influenced due to the changes in temperature and precipitation. Thus, for some months, cycling trips are lesser.

 

Peer Cities

 

The number of people in NYC who use bicycles to commute to work grew two times faster compared to other cities. Based on the 2013-2018 data, the Peer City Average is at 16%, but New York City has a whopping 35% increase.

 

This is two times faster compared to Portland, Oregon (14%), san Francisco, California (15%), and Philadelphia (15%).

 

Cycling by Male and Female

 

Though there are still more men in cycling – one female cyclist for every three-male cyclist (FHA, 2009) – female cyclists’ average annual growth has been growing in the past year.

 

The average annual growth rate from 2015-2018 showed that female commuter cycling increased 4x faster than male commuter cycling. Male commuter cycling only had an average annual growth of 2.2%, while females have a growth rate of 9.8%.

 

Citi Bike

 

Citi Bike has been doing pretty well when it comes to encouraging New Yorkers to commute via bike. Citi Bike is the largest bike-share system in North America. Last 2019, a five-year expansion began to double the size of the bike share system.

 

Based on the figures, New Yorkers find bike share convenient to make short trips and complement existing transportation networks.

 

Midtown – Crossing 50th Street

 

Midtown is an area in NYC where jobs and activities are heavily concentrated. NYC DOT has monitored cyclists entering and leaving the area. Based on the results, there has been a steady growth of people using bicycles to navigate the midtown. There has been a 27% cycling growth in the area from 2014 to 2019.

 

East River Bridges

 

The NYC DOT also measured the bikes that would cross the East River bridge. NYC cyclists cross the Queensboro, Williamsburg, Manhattan, and Brooklyn bridges as they connect between boroughs and the Manhattan core.

 

From 1980 to 2013, the NYC DOT has been doing the count manually. Last 2014, they installed automated counters. Based on the data, there is a 2.8% average annual growth of cycling on the East River bridges in 10 years.

 

Top 7 Cycling Trends in NYC

 

The cycling trends mentioned herein this post gives us a glimpse of what to expect when it comes to bike commuters. With traffic jams becoming worse and with a bicycle as one of the safest forms of transportation in this pandemic, it is expected that eh numbers will continually rise in the years to come.

 

Our aim here in posts like Top 7 Cycling Trends in NYC is to help you stay healthy in NYC!