Atlanta Bike Commuting Up 111% Year-to-Year
Decatur Metro | September 29, 2010 | 5:09 pmBike community held steady as a mode of transportation from 2008 to 2009, despite falling gas prices, according to U.S. Census numbers of the 70 largest U.S. Cities, compiled by The League of American Cyclists.
In Atlanta, the share of bicycle commuters to the total city population rose from .51% to 1.08% from ’08 to ’09, an 111% increase. This was in line with the key takeaway from the League’s analysis that cities with the fewest bike amenities saw the largest year-to-year growth this past year.
Still, Atlanta’s numbers are impressive. That 111% increase propelled the city from a rank of 39th in % of bike commuters in 2008 to 22nd in 2009.
Lain, who also forwarded the study, notes that it’s sort of shocking that Atlanta’s % of bike commuters was almost the same as the city of Chicago, where 1.15% of commuters bike to work.
According to the ranker, the top 5 bike cities in the U.S. are 1. Portland, OR 2. Minneapolis, MN, 3. Seattle, WA, 4. San Francisco, CA, 5. Oakland, CA.
Photo of commuting Decatur students courtesy of BeActiveDecatur.com
I am real impressed with Minneapolis being the #2 city given there’s only 2 weeks of snow-free streets. (And when they aren’t biking somewhere, they’re on their cross country skies). I realize that it’s nice and flat there, progressive, lots of college students, not to mention Mary Tyler Moore wholesome types, but still…… the rest of the country looks pretty sorry if it’s behind MINNESOTA in cycling. The only thing more embarrassing would be to be behind North Dakota.
That would be skis, not skies. Darn irregular English.
Along those same lines, MONTREAL is a huge bike commute city.
Wow. And Montreal isn’t flat at all! Do they bike in the Underground City (RESO) as well as above?
Big changes in tiny numbers based on sample-based estimates = enormous margins of error. This is fun to look at, but the validity is questionable at best.
Agreed
Rate of change of mode share with such small numbers is on the misleading side. The report didn’t give us the actual data which would make it a lot less exciting sounding
You’d think Dallas was a cycle paradise with 219% growth in commuter cycling but they grew “up to” 0.15%.
Man, that is one big kid in the middle of that picture. Guess he got held back a few times.
I can’t stop laughing at that comment. It’s really dumb and obvious but I can’t stop laughing.