Bike Commuting in D.C. Increases 3-Fold From 2007

A short memo I out together for WABA last fall. Need to pick this project back up and look at different cities, and stratify by age. Any other thoughts? What does transportation tell us about a neighborhood, an economy, or society? 

Bike Commuting in D.C. Increases 3-Fold From 2007

D.C. Residents

• An estimated 4.5 percent of all District workers got to work via bicycle in 2013.

·      That’s a slight increase from 4.1 percent in 2012, and only 1.7 percent in 2007.

• Nearly 15,000 (14,800) workers commuted to work via bicycle in 2013.

·      That’s a slight increase from 13,300 in 2012, and a huge jump from 4,900 in 2007.

While cycling continues to grow as a preferred means of transportation to and from work for Washingtonians, cars and mass transportation still dominate: Public transportation accounted for 38.5 percent of commuting while individual vehicles accounted for 37.6 percent.

Metro Area

In the broader Washington metro area, an estimated 28,000 commuters got to work on their bikes in 2013.

•       Not bad considering just over 11,000 rode bikes to work in 2007. (An estimated 24,000 commuters cycled to work in 2012).

Perhaps not surprisingly, a smaller proportion of total commuters used bicycles to get to work however: (around 1 percent).

• That’s still a slight increase from 2012’s 0.6 percent, and a drastic improvement from 2007’s 0.4 percent.

Not surprisingly, driving remains the most popular way to commute for the larger Metro area:

Gender Disparities Persist

Despite impressive gains in cycling as a preferred means of getting to and from work, gender disparities persist in the District and the wider Metropolitan area.

Males made up 63.2 percent of bike commuters in D.C. The disparities are slightly worse in the wider Metro area, with making up nearly 70 percent of bike commuters.