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Even More Americans Have Stopped Biking To Work (usatoday.com)
The percentage of Americans biking to work has dropped for the third year straight, reports the U.S. Census Bureau. An anonymous reader quotes USA Today:
Nationally, the percentage of people who say they use a bike to get to work fell by 3.2 percent from 2016 to 2017, to an average of 836,569 commuters, according to the bureau's latest American Community Survey, which regularly asks a group of Americans about their habits. That's down from a high of 904,463 in 2014, when it peaked after four straight years of increases....
Experts offered several explanations for the nationwide decrease that has unfolded even as cities spent millions trying to become more bike-friendly. Most obviously, lower gasoline prices and a stronger economy contributed to strong auto sales and less interest in cheaper alternatives, such as mass transit and bikes. The rise of ride-hailing services such as Uber and Lyft and electric scooters cut into bike commuting, said Dave Snyder, executive director of the California Bicycle Coalition.
In at least two American cities -- Cleveland and Tampa -- the number of bike commuters has dropped by 50%.
Experts offered several explanations for the nationwide decrease that has unfolded even as cities spent millions trying to become more bike-friendly. Most obviously, lower gasoline prices and a stronger economy contributed to strong auto sales and less interest in cheaper alternatives, such as mass transit and bikes. The rise of ride-hailing services such as Uber and Lyft and electric scooters cut into bike commuting, said Dave Snyder, executive director of the California Bicycle Coalition.
In at least two American cities -- Cleveland and Tampa -- the number of bike commuters has dropped by 50%.
It could be that more than ever people live such distances from their place of work that biking represents a significant portion of their day or effort. Whereas driving allows them to spend more time with family or performing additional tasks.
They rode bikes to show the need for bike lanes. Now that bike lanes have been built they don't see the need to bike anymore.
it's winter
I'm 50 miles from the nearest metro and am no Lance Armstrong.
Maybe they have grown up, got real jobs were a bicycling with a suit on looks silly.
I bike to work but its on a Harley...
to get ahead since companies don't really give raises anymore, that means you can't really live within biking distance unless you're really, really lucky. Doesn't help that people usually hate cyclists with a passion, and that's if they see them. I've been run off the road more than once by somebody completely oblivious to my existence.
And of course most cities don't have money for bike paths. No joke, there's several places in my city where there's a path going out but not coming _back_. And a lot of times the bike path has just eroded away and there's no money to restore it.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
Sounds like good news for the people of Cleveland and Tampa. Can't imagine how awful it was biking through the snow and rain and humid heat and everything else those cities will throw at you.
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I used to bike to work everyday, but lately some days I walk to work to enjoy the outdoors more. Suck it, hicks.
That would be big news if Cleveland or Tampa were of any importance.
Motorcycle safety Quote:
... Motorcycle rider deaths were nearly 30 times more than drivers of other vehicles. Motorcycle riders aged below 40 are 36 times more likely to be killed than other vehicle operators of the same age."
"Per vehicle mile traveled, motorcyclists' risk of a fatal crash is 35 times greater than a passenger car.
Not worth it unless you have a death wish. Also what are you supposed to do in the summer when its hot and humid already in the morning? Get to work and be soaked with sweat? Plus around here we have these things called hills. Some of which are over 20% grade.
Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
When O was president the world was going to be saved by unicorns and magic pixie dust; everyone had solar panels on their roof and bicycled to work. Now that reality has set in people admit that neither was ever true (but at least they have jobs now).
amazing that it was not worse. Even more amazing the way you told the tale.
to buy a suburban palace built from "engineered wood" with 3 bedrooms and 5 toilets, and a Tesla and powerwall to go with it. I feel smug and entitled, why should I ride a bike like a poor person?
Unproductive consumption of goods is honorable as a mark of prowess and a perquisite of human dignity!
>"Experts offered several explanations for the nationwide decrease that has unfolded even as cities spent millions trying to become more bike-friendly. Most obviously, lower gasoline prices and a stronger economy contributed to strong auto sales and less interest in cheaper alternatives, such as mass transit and bikes."
No. Who are these "experts"??
Almost nobody rides a bike to work to "save gas." For most, if he/she is within easy biking range, that doesn't amount to much gas. And it isn't cost either. Those biking do so primarily for exercise, possible enjoyment, and in some cases to reduce wear on their car (short start/stop trips are rough on ICE cars, plus they sit in the sun parked all day). For most it is certainly not as fast or convenient, especially in bad weather. And it is often very unsafe, certainly if it requires ANY riding on major/busy roads.
I bike almost every day to work and have for many years, but I also live 0.5mi from work. Yes, I also sometimes walk, but typically want to get there/home faster and also biking deters being stopped for conversations with neighbors :)
Driving in the US helps you avoid all the homeless people using public transport or walking. The decision may not be entirely conscious, though it isn't uncommon to find human waste on a seat used for public transport (usually urine, really nasty if it is in fabric seats like those used on BART in SF). The rise in homelessness is likely causing more driving to avoid the problems in US communities like homelessness due to drug addiction and mental illness (or "learned helplessness"). A vehicle in America is essentially a container that can limit what problems you may experience on a day-to-day basis.
It is dangerous on a bicycle on the public roads nowadays.
Who the fuck wants to get all sweaty riding a bike to work? Very few people work in ivory tower places like google or apple that have shower facilities and juice cleanse bars. Most people are lucky to get a break room at work.
Where I work (a Fortune 100 Corp.) we literally have only 6 toilets and 3 urinals for 250 people in the building where my office is located.
I don't want to sit there all nasty and sweaty and I don't want to smell anyone else who just rode a bike into work.
Does any leader of the US congress or the US government commute to work by bicycle?
I do, even in the snow, especially the snow actually. I find it takes less time for me to bike to work than to clear the snow off my car in the morning. When I got my job, I went online to look for a place to rent, I put my work's postal (zip) code into craigslist and sorted results for the closest. Bicycle ride is all of 10 minutes. I used to have an hour long commute, it was terrible, what a waste of my life. I'll take a tiny apt over a nice house rather than ever do that again. In the winter, my ride is all in the dark, so I have blindingly bright lights on my bike, no way someone won't see me. About 1/4 of my ride is on a bicycle path, so I get to see lots of nature, rabbits every day, and there is a homeless camp that provides some entertainment as well. That little bit of exercise in the morning wakes me up and leaves me feeling great coming in to work.
American towns & roads weren't designed with cyclists or pedestrians in mind, they were designed for the exclusive use of cars. It's an interesting exercise to attempt to retrofit US towns & cities to try to make them safer & more pleasant for cyclists but the fact remains, the distances, roads, etc., are mostly unsuitable. Also, most American towns are butt ugly, dirty, dangerous places to be without the protection of being inside a car. Yes, there are exceptions & congratulations to those lucky people who live in those areas.
Debate is a form of harassment. Do not question my truth.
The auto and oil companies bribe governments to make it illegal to ride without a helmet, so people choose to ride in cars.
It's dangerous enough in Melbourne, I'll be *DAMNED* if I would *EVER* consider riding a bike on the roads in your country. That's some seriously dangerous roads.
It's because they are taking to gol darn scooters!
And God forbid you should try to WALK to work in any dense urban area. You are going to be MOWED OVER by scooters on the sidewalk!
Pretty-much every form of transportation is now total shit-show, at least in said dense urban areas.
- scooters/bikes/electric bikes on the sidewalks and streets
- circling and double-parked Uber and Lyft cars with clueless and uncourteous drivers
- handicapped spaces occupied by Uber/Lyft cars waiting for an assignment
- Uber/Lyft cars stopping in dangerous places. (They stop unexpectedly to load/unload all the time near me in a red zone just past a train track, thus leaving cars on the track unable to move. There is a reason for the red zone. One of these days....)
- roving bands of gangsters on the latest "low-rider" electric bike/scooters whatever they call those things (I guess they either are free for the first month, or they've figured out how to hack them already)
Fortunately, this all resolves itself eventually. The scooters/bike will crash into unexpectedly-opened Uber/Lyft doors, which then will give the roving gangsters an opportunity to rob the Uber/Lyft driver and injured scooter/bike rider. This at least take some of the extra traffic off of the street for some period of time.
Seriously ... I may be one of the only adults out there who can say this, but I never learned how to ride a bicycle. As a kid, growing up, I had all kinds of pedal cars, a tricycle or two, a "Big Wheel", etc. Any of them were good enough to ride up and down our street. And considering my dad had an accident as a teenager, when he was struck by a car delivering newspapers, that affected him the rest of his life? He wasn't all that willing to encourage me to get or ride a bicycle.
Then, I got my driver's license - and bicycles quickly went out the window as things I had any interest in.
These days? Sometimes I wish I could ride one ... but I have to do a 60 mile commute each way for work, plus occasionally visit other job sites. So it wouldn't be for that. And when I see the prices for decent bicycles these days .... Yeah, I'm not motivated to buy one and figure out how to ride it either, at this point in my life.
1. Get up and get ready for work
2. Get tired and sweaty riding a bicycle 2 hours to work [and most employers do not have employee locker rooms and showers]
3. Work for 8 hours
4. Get seriously exhausted riding bicycle 2 hours home from work.
5. Dread the next day, particularly if rain, sleet, or snow are in the forecast.
What's not to like?
It's fundamentally inefficient for society to ask workers to waste hours per day on a commute when the same travel could be done in a fraction of the time. The total number of man-years lost when employees bike to work is simply insane.
so that's why you're so fat...
I imagine most of it's telecommuting. I'd guess there's significant overlap between bike-friendly employers and remote-friendly employers.
Clean up the streets.
No parked RV.
No tent cities blocking paths and areas set aside for bikes.
No waste and trash left out on the streets.
Stop criminals from doing crime in nice city areas. Give good city police back their powers to enforce laws
No open drug use.
Make all US cities great again and good people can enjoy their bike commute again.
Really nice scenic bike routes in and around cities.
No more having to navigate crime infested urban areas with trash and waste.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
I stopped cycling because I work from home now. I don't live in the US, but could that be a reason for change?
Over the last 3 years? Totally unlikely.
Drivers aren't as inattentive as cyclists willfullness to drive dangerously. There's a reason semi trailers tell you to stay out of their blind spots. If a car drives in a semi's blind spot and gets creamed, that's on the car's driver. Same for bikes in cars' blind spots.
I bike because driving in SoCal is a shitshow. I've got to where I hate even being in a car, when I have to Uber. Luckily the weather makes that rare. I sold my truck am 400/month richer for that, and I don't have to play asshole roulette on the freeway anymore.
As an added bonus, I get to give people shit when they say they want the government to do something about global warming, while they burn 80 gallons of gas every month.
... that's what's behind the time-savers like food and grocery deliveries and, recently, robotic snack deliveries of snacks on campus.
Pepsi Is Testing a Snack Delivery Robot On Select College Campuses
It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
When I was a dental student, I would walk and bike to school all the time. It was a six mile ride, and I would arrive sweaty, sore, in a bad mood, and smelling like a jock strap. Then I would have to find a spot to park and chain my bike, hope no one vandalized it while I was in class, and do my best to make myself somewhat presentable for the day. Finally, I would return and bike home in the dark, barely able to see a thing in the light of a tiny LED headlamp. Half the time, I would end up pushing the bike home because a tire would blow, or the chain would pop off the derailleurs, or I would get hurt from hitting uneven areas of the sidewalk. Several times, my bike got vandalized. I did it only because I had little money.
Today, I'm out of school, and I have some money. My commute is twenty miles. My Sonata PHEV is my own personalized air-conditioned relaxation chamber, with a 32 GB usb stick loaded with my favorite tunes and podcasts. I leave a little early to avoid traffic, and enjoy a leisurely commute with heated and cooled seats. When I leave the car, I exit even more relaxed than when I take a hot shower, and I look and smell as good as the moment I got in the car. My old bike sits in the corner of the garage, awaiting donation to Goodwill.
As someone who used to bike every day, I'll tell you exactly why people are not biking to work as much: biking sucks major ass. I haven't missed it for a moment.
I've bike-commuted to work in Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and downtown Chicago. No matter how close you hug the shoulder, how courteous you try to be, a significant minority of auto drivers are insufferable cunts. They will cruise behind you and blast their horn for no reason, cut you off, hurl bottles and invective at you when passing, and cut you off while looking straight at you so you know it wasn't a mistake. At the end of the day their lives are not at all on the line. It's too dangerous, so I only do bike trails now. Yeah, I guess the fat fucks win.
Nothing quite like the viewpoint of someone who can't even ride a bike and knows literally nothing about the subject.
I have years of cycling experience and am fully able to ride 10+ miles to and from work on a daily basis. But thereâ(TM)s no way Iâ(TM)m going to ride in a bike lane and âoeshareâ the road with a bunch of speeding, texting, stop sign blowing, red light running, inconsiderate, distracted car drivers.
Iâ(TM)ve seen all of it while riding the bike.
Itâ(TM)s not safe.
Itâ(TM)s not worth it.
I will try to drink less Sunday night and fight the urge to be lazy the next few weeks to get us back on track!
Sadly, with cheap Lyft fares, it is easy to be lazy.
The injury and death rate for cyclists is really high. I don't blame anyone for not wanting to do it anymore.
More and more people work from home every year. Its reasonable to assume that some of them used to cycle to work. That may represent a part of the decline.
Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of congress. But then I repeat myself. -- Mark Twain
Biking can be very efficient for moderate distances if bike paths most of the way. A decent shoulder usually ok but bad drivers abundant. Pedestrians have right away on sidewalks. I used to bike but after several incidents and to many close calls decided bike travel needs caution which Means long distances at speed increases risk. Since trucks deliver the stuff we need roads are primarily for autos. Support bikes but aware of limits to roads.
Biking to work is a stupid yuppie elitist idea. Should have died in the 1980s with flock of seagull haircuts.
I do not believe in karma. "Funny"=-6. Do good and forbid evil. Yours, Oft-Offtopic Flamebaiting Troll.
Our city just put in some more bicycle lanes. The local news interviewed an owner of a bicycle courier service that has instructed his employees not to use the lanes. They have been configured to interfere with auto traffic more than actually move cyclists from point A to B and are dangerous as a result.
https://factfinder.census.gov/...
The trend is visible. After peaking in 2014 it steadily goes down.
I do not believe in karma. "Funny"=-6. Do good and forbid evil. Yours, Oft-Offtopic Flamebaiting Troll.
I can't afford to show up at work sweating and rumpled. That has been the case since I quit my job at a pizza kiosk when I was 16. Where I live now (as in most of the American North) it would be too dangerous to bike to work in the winter. In the south where it's reasonable social change would need to happen far beyond concerns about health. To wit the whole concept of "looking professional" would have to change or companies would have to generally all offer showers, lockers, and a short break to change clothes upon arrival. This is aside from the fact that many Americans live much further from their jobs than Europeans, and without equivalent public transportation. We live in different societies. Deal with it.
If video games influenced behavior the Pac Man generation would be eating pills and running away from their problems.
And so we destroy road (road diets), put up hard bike lanes (hurts parking and business) just so a few entitled twits can bike to work. This is what, .001% of the commuters.
NYC is the worst example.
Yep... All American, babe! 6000 pounds of Pittsburgh Steel burning pure Kentucky coal
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
Bikes don't burn coal. Have to burn coal to MAGA.
Don't bike commute! It doesn't pollute!
Get a coal powered car.
I mean, why bother anymore? Better to prepare for the "effects" of global warming.
If:
1) You are lucky enough to live close to where you work
2) The weather allows it
3) You don't need to carry much with you
4) The traffic doesn't kill you
My commute for fifteen years was ~100 miles round trip. Let's see you bike that one every day.
Where I live, it's 90f by 8am with humidity typically hovering around the 60-70% mark in the Summer. Have fun.
What's your plan when you go to leave work and it's storming like the end of the world outside ?
I typically have at least my laptop with me. My tool bag ( network stuff ) when necessary. On a bike ? No . . . .
Folks in cars don't even see each OTHER because they're playing with their phones and you want to drive out there with them . . . on a bicycle ? Are you suicidal ?
Personally I can't stand the arrogance of most of the cyclists around here. They're easy to spot as they are usually decked out in bicycle attire worthy of the Tour De France. They will pedal in the center of the lane of traffic like they own it while doing 20mph in a 50mph zone. Cars stacked up behind them 5,10 deep and they act shocked, and outraged when folks pass them the first chance they get.
How DARE you pass me ?
Can't you see I'm on a bicycle ?!
I'M SPECIAL !!!!!
Actually watched one of these idiots get off their bike at a red light to run up and beat on the drivers window after he got passed by several cars who were tired of driving 15-20mph.
Surprised he survived that encounter to be honest . . . . .
Yeah, no sympathy from me.
God forbid you get behind a pack of them, you may as well turn around and go home.
Napster's in-house lawyer, actually. Cop killed him dead on impact. They decided that cop was innocent since they had no rule at the time prohibiting cops from texting while driving. Remember, we're peons to be kept in line, used up and shit out whenever.
What's his selling point? Only 7!
There's no big mystery to it, it's all about the economy. Throughout the majority of Obama's presidency, the economy was depressed and stagnant with many people forced to work one or more part time jobs mostly close to home... they couldn't afford to drive to work so they rode bikes. As the economy has recovered and employment has surged in recent years, people have returned to taking on single, full time, career oriented work outside of their immediate area making biking to work both more challenging and less economically necessary.
I moved to the burbs but I also finally got the a-ok to work from home. My commute is 5 feets
Why do people who ride bikes wear those funny outfits?
her 18 year old son couldn't walk from his high school to his job after school because of traffic safety in Clearwater, FL. She tells me that it's dangerous to cross the street.
I asked her "Have you taught him to look both ways before crossing?"
She said "You wouldn't believe this scooter accident we saw there recently"
I pointed out "He probably didn't look both ways"
People don't walk not just because of laziness but because they're scared of EVERYTHING. And they pass it down to their kids. I've been crossing streets for 40 years and never once have I had a problem. I've crossed the street she mentioned many times growing up and even recently when visiting. I can't understand how with nearly a full kilometer of visibility in all traffic directions how it could possibly be dangerous to cross the street.
But this is America today. America has chosen to stop living because they have too much fear of getting hurt.
To be fair, most of those came while racing - not on his trip to work. He now works from home :)
And he races less now, mostly doing things like hosting foreign racers at his house and riding in chase vehicles to feed his addiction... he's a good guy, just nuts.
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
You're a typical leftist bigot.
Soccer moms driving SUVs while jabbering on their phones apparently find mere bicyclist and pedestrians invisible.
Please do not read this sig. Thank you.
Hilarious! Must read:
http://www.hotels-in-netherlands.com/bikereadercom/contributors/misc/menace.html
https://www.dailynews.com/2018/05/29/family-of-cyclist-killed-by-distracted-la-county-sheriffs-deputy-gets-12-million-settlement/
Let me know next time you have to do 32C+ for, say, seven months straight. Which is a mild summer for Tampa....
I cycle in Toronto, which often gets up to 35C with >80% humidity at times in the summer; it also gets pretty chilly.
I generally cycle from March/April to December (rain or shine), as long as the roads aren't snowy or icy. Bring a change of clothes. You don't even have to shower at work if you shower int the morning: it's not sweat that gets stinky, it's sweat+bacteria: so if your body is clean before heading out the door, you're fine for the rest of the day.
Possible explanation: aging population and falling birth rate. When I was young, I biked everywhere and it didn't bother me. I was healthy and had "no fear" as is common in twenty year olds. Now that I'm older, I fear getting killed by a stupid texting/careless motorist and only bike a couple of times a year.
You have two cultures who contribute to a lot of the motorcycle accidents; the pirate clubs, and the sport bike squids. The former don't give a thought about riding drunk or high, all without a helmet. Leather vests don't do much against road rash. The latter group have safety gear consisting of flip flops, backwards ball caps, and wifebeater shirts, and regularly exceed the speed limit by a factor of two.
Good eye!
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When Intel bought our chip design group at Cray, they moved us to another town 16 miles away. I was surprised to discover that commuting became the best part of my day! This is thanks to most of that distance being covered by off-road paved bike trails. If there's a safe way to bike to work, I'd highly recommend it -- great way to start the day! https://www.leadertelegram.com...