As the youngest of Gordie Howe’s sons, I was raised by someone who grew up during the Depression in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, where temperatures hover at minus-20 all winter. My dad ate oatmeal three times a day, walked or skated five miles to school, and lived in a two-bedroom house with 11 siblings and no indoor plumbing. Popular toys were rocks and sticks.
So when I decided to begin commuting to work on my bike, my dad wasn’t impressed. He merely said, “Watch out for cars.” Good advice.
Ever wonder how many people are biking or walking to work in Metro Detroit? How do we compare with the bike friendly cities of Chicago and Portland?
Fortunately the U.S. Census publishes statistics on how people get to work. The below numbers are from 2007, which is before gasoline hit $4 a gallon and encouraged increased bike commuting. We look forward to seeing the 2008 numbers.
Note that the Metro Detroit error margins are generally +/- 0.1%. For cities, the error margins are much larger which makes comparing these numbers somewhat precarious.
One conclusion that can be drawn is women don’t bike to work as frequently as men, but especially in some areas such as Wayne County, Southfield, and Grand Rapids. Even in more bike friendly cities like Ann Arbor, Chicago, and Portland, women workers are much less likely to bike to work. There is no corresponding gender difference among those walking to work in many of these regions (the City of Detroit is an exception). In Metro Detroit, women walk to work more often than men (1.6% vs. 1.4%).
Another conclusion: Detroit has much room for improvement compared to places like Ann Arbor, Chicago, and Portland.
City/Region
Total Workers
(age 16 & over)
Walk
to work
Bike to work
Overall
Male
Female
Michigan
4,400,918
2.3%
0.4%
0.5%
0.2%
Metro Detroit
1,925,690
1.5%
0.2%
0.3%
0.1%
Wayne County
758,034
1.9%
0.3%
0.5%
0.0%
Oakland County
577,367
1.6%
0.2%
0.3%
0.2%
Macomb County
383,058
0.9%
0.1%
0.1%
0.1%
Genesee County
170,312
1.0%
0.1%
0.2%
0.0%
Detroit
249,970
2.7%
0.3%
0.7%
0.0%
Southfield
33,936
2.2%
0.4%
0.7%
0.0%
Troy
42,211
0.5%
0.3%
0.2%
0.3%
Ann Arbor
55,336
13.8%
2.6%
3.4%
1.8%
Lansing
52,690
2.5%
0.4%
0.5%
0.3%
Grand Rapids
90,481
3.6%
1.1%
2.0%
0.1%
Traverse City region
66,557
2.8%
0.5%
0.7%
0.4%
Flint
31,579
0.8%
0.4%
0.6%
0.2%
Chicago, IL
1,230,933
5.4%
1.1%
1.4%
0.7%
Portland, OR
280,933
4.4%
3.9%
4.9%
2.8%
One question we have is how does the Census Bureau count workers that use bus bike racks? Are they counted as public transit commuters, as bicyclists or both?
The bailout bill passed the Senate and is awaiting a vote in the House today. This bill has gotten many additional unrelated items added to it, presumably to gain the vote of certain legislators.
Congressman Earl Blumenauer is our biggest bicycling advocate. He voted against the first bailout bill. And although he did not request it, this new bailout bill includes his bicycle commuter legislation.
What does this bike commuter legislation do? Currently, employers get a tax break when they provide company cars or pay for their employee’s use of public transit in order to get to work. This legislation would add bicycles as a tax break. This would give employers a financial incentive to provide a bicycle and cover the expenses associated with riding it to work.
According to the Congressman’s web site, this legislation “provides a strong incentive for employees to bike to work, which is a cleaner, healthier, more efficient mode of transportation.”
Even though Blumenauer’s bike bill is in the bailout, he’s indicating he will vote against the overall package.
Today’s Detroit News has an article titled Cutting the Cost of Commuting. It discusses how some Michigan companies are helping their employees cope with higher fuel costs.
What’s great is the more progressive companies like Google and Herman Miller are promoting bike use.
Google’s Ann Arbor office donates $5 per day to a charity of choice for those who walk or bike, according to spokesman Patrick McLaughlin. About half the workforce take public transportation, walk, bike, or carpool.
Brian Walker, CEO of Zeeland-based furniture manufacturer Herman Miller and an avid bicyclist, decided to discourage the use of cars altogether when he implemented a “bike pooling” system that matches other cyclists by location and schedule.
Rather than offer stipends to buy gas, the company provides one-time reimbursements of $100 for bicycles, $50 for helmets, and $500 for hybrid cars.
Here’s more video from NBC Nightly News on America’s growing switch to bike commuting. As noted, many cities across the U.S. have the infrastructure to help their residents make that switch. Unfortunately that is not the case in nearly all of Detroit’s suburbs.
Many cities… have a well-established infrastructure of bike lanes, bike-friendly public transit systems, and bike parking, making switching from four wheels to two easy for drivers fed up with high gas prices.
