www.pedbikeimages.org / Dan Burden

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.

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?

This brief interview with Congressman Earl Blumenauer was recently published in Parade Magazine:

Why care about cycling now?
Right now, the U.S. consumes about 10% of the world’s oil supply just to get back and forth to work. If we are able to reintroduce the bicycle into our communities, we are going to make it easier for people to break our addiction to oil. I have cycled to work in Washington, D.C., for 12 years. I’ve burned over 300,000 calories and saved $94,000 in car costs, 206 gallons of fuel, and 4800 pounds of carbon dioxide.

Your city—Portland, Oregon —is very bike-friendly. What has worked?
We have expanded the number of bike lanes, established bike routes throughout the city, and turned major streets into “bike boulevards” so there is less through traffic. It’s making a huge difference. People in Portland use their cars much less than the American average. That translates into savings of more than $2500 per year per family. There should be a bicycle master plan for cities large and small.

How do you balance the competing demands of cyclists who want more lanes and drivers who worry about congestion?
It’s not about competition. Cycling actually helps improve traffic flow on roads. If all of those thousands of people who bike every day in Portland were to get back in their cars, we would have more traffic congestion and more frayed nerves. Cycling helps with parking, too—you can fit a dozen bikes in the space one car would take.

Link: A Greener Commute by Meg Massey

Photo of Madison, Wisconsin from www.pedbikeimages.org / Dan Burden

Last week we spoke before the Royal Oak Downtown Development Authority (DDA) and asked them to support our push for safer biking and walking in Royal Oak.

While our public comment echoed much of what we said before the City Commission last week, we did try to focus a bit more on the downtown area.

For example, we noted that on average 1% of Michigan trips are currently made by bike.  They’ve made a big commitment in Portland, Oregon to improve biking and now 8% of their trips are by bike and it’s growing.  (Amsterdam is at 40%!) If we followed Portland’s lead, we could save money by decreasing our need for more car parking.  And bicyclists shop local.

Overall, the DDA was receptive and was interested in having a representative on our bicycle task force.

At the same meeting, the DDA approved nine new bike racks throughout Downtown Royal Oak.  SMART is covering the cost for eight of the racks.

We’ve also received additional media coverage from The Mirror and the Royal Oak Review.

We are meeting with City Manager Tom Hoover and staff this Tuesday.

Bike lanes, bicycle boulevards, bike commuting, and more are highlighted in this NBC Nightly News video about Portland, Oregon and other progressive cities in the U.S.:

So much of life these days comes back to the price of gas, the high cost of simply getting around, which is why, any number of American cities and towns… are following the example of Portland, Oregon.

While we’re not endorsing any presidential candidate at this time, it was great to hear Senator Obama recently highlight bike lanes during his recent visit to Portland, Oregon:

If we are going to solve our energy problems we’ve got to think long term. It’s time for us to be serious about investing in alternative energy. It’s time for us to get serious about raising fuel efficiency standards on cars. It’s time that the entire country learn from what’s happening right here in Portland with mass transit and bicycle lanes and funding alternative means of transportation.

Promoting bike lanes in Portland was a smart move since a large percentage of those listening to the senator were cyclists. From the Bike Portland blog:

In Portland, when 75,000 people show up on the Waterfront for any event on a gorgeous spring day, you’d naturally expect many of them get their on two wheels

One estimate puts the number of bikes at 8,000 on the railing above the river alone (that does not include the likely thousands of bikes locked to every pole, rack and tree in a one-mile radius!). After the event, bikes were reportedly bumper-to-bumper over the Hawthorne Bridge…