On 6/26/2018 2:04 PM, jbeattie wrote:
On Tuesday, June 26, 2018 at 8:57:17 AM UTC-7, Frank Krygowski wrote:
Interesting article, with data, about how much the Dutch actually ride
their bikes.

https://peopleforbikes.org/blog/best...h-hardly-bike/

Turns out they average, oh, maybe a mile or two per day.

That works for them because their cities are so dense that many
destinations are less than a mile away. That comes from having cities
that were founded in medieval times. When things are more than a couple
miles away, they tend to leave the bike and use other modes.

So we can get Dutch bike mode shares if we start work on our cities
early enough. Like, back in 1400 AD or so.

Or the 1960s, as in NL. 25% mode share at five miles is great -- even at 9-12 miles, the percentage of trips by bike is way better than any US city. Portland's city-wide bicycle mode share is 7% -- for all trips.

City density does not explain the relative lack of cyclists in NYC, Boston, Chicago, etc. -- and other places that are flat and that have compact metropolitan areas. There are many other differences.

Indeed, there are many other differences. And a look at the cities
listed at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modal_share shows that any city
over 7% is an extreme outlier.

I notice, though, that it lists Portland as just 3%. I don't know the
details on that survey, but IIRC the one that claimed 7% for Portland
really meant 7% of the city's legal residents said they traveled by
bike. That does not mean that 7% of the travel within city limits was by
bike. The hoards entering from the suburbs are almost all in cars.

Differences? We've been through this before, but I do think average trip
length must be important, along with terrain, weather, history, culture
and perhaps most important, local fashion.

--
- Frank Krygowski