This is National Bike Month 2018 and a great time to reflect on the benefits of bicycling as far as health, the environment, and return on investment for investing in bike infrastructure such as bike lanes and adding more outdoor bicycle racks.
These numbers will get your wheels spinning:
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A Huge Group of Citizens are Bicyclists: Number of people who bicycled in the US in 2016 - 45.9 million.
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Seniors are Hopping on their Bikes More Often: Some people are saying, "Bicycling is the new Golf."
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Big Trend: Bike Trips have Doubled: From 1990 to 2009, the number of bike trips in the US doubled from 1.8 to 4 billion per year.
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Want to Curb Childhood Obesity? Kids who bicycle are 48% less likely to be overweight as adults.
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Benefits for Women: Women who bike 30 minutes a day have a lower risk of breast cancer.
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More and More Americans are Bicycling to Work: In the past decade, US bike commuting grew 47% nationwide.
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Bike Community is a Huge Trend in Large Urban Areas: In large cities, the number of bike commuters grew by 73%.
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Health Benefits are Major: Bike commuters live longer, have lower blood pressure and are less likely to be overweight.
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Infrastructure Cuts Medical Costs: A study in Portland estimated that the city's extensive network of bicycle paths and lanes saves the city about $115 million in health care costs.
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Want to See What More Bike Lanes Can Do? When car travel was limited during the 1996 Olympics Games in Atlanta, ozone concentrations in the air decreased 28%. Visits for acute care asthma dropped 41%.
For National Bike Month, assess how well your city provides outdoor bicycle racks, bike lanes, bike shelters and bike repair shelters. Cities now have a large number of bicyclists who can influence investments in bicycle infrastructure -
How Important are Secure Bicycle Parking Racks for City Residents? 35% of people in a focus group made up of African American and Hispanic residents in Portland said they did not have a place to store a bicycle where it would not get stolen.
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Build it and They Will Use It: After a bike lane and pedestrian lane was installed on a South Carolina bridge, nearly 70% of users said their activity levels increased because of the new additions.
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Want to Limit Car Traffic, Add Bike Lanes Instead of Roads: In Seville, Spain, the city grew their network of protected bike lanes from 7.4 miles to 94. The number of bike trips grew 435% from 3 million to 16 million in seven years.
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More Proof? In New York and Washington DC, after they built protected bike lanes, the number of bike commuters doubled in five years.
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Making it Easier to Bicycle Pays Off: A study in Toronto found that customers who visited an area by foot and bicycle were more likely to visit more often and spend more per month.
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Retail Benefits: After a bike lane was built on 9th Avenue in NYC, local businesses saw a 49% rise in retail sales.
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Bike Lanes are Cheaper than Roads: One mile of a road planned for Golden Gate Park in San Francisco cost 1,283 times more than a one-mile bike lane.
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Major Boost for Property Values: A study found that while the Indianapolis Cultural Trail cost $62.5 million to build, the project increased property values near the trail by $1 billion. That's a lot of tax revenue.
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Many Cities are the Seeing the (Bicycle) Light: By the summer of 2014, there were protected bike lane projects in 53 cities and 24 states, more than four times the number in 2010.
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City Officials - Listen to What Citizens are Saying: 47% of Americans want more bike paths, bike lanes and bike trails.
Sources: Peopleforbikes.org and Stastista.com
Note: The Park and Facilities Catalog is a leading supplier of outdoor bicycle racks since 2001 to cities, schools, universities, retail stores, office buildings and other facilities. We offer wave bike racks, U-shaped racks, bike lockers, bike repair stations and free bike room layouts. The company is a strong advocate for increasing bicycle infrastructure across the US and was awarded a designation as a Bicycle Friendly Business by the League of American Bicyclists.