Bike Your Commute In 2023 As Its Popularity Rises In Major Cities

Of the 154 million Americans who commuted to work in 2021, 120 million were accounted for driving cars or taking

Of the 154 million Americans who commuted to work in 2021, 120 million were accounted for driving cars or taking public transit. And, 616,153 Americans commuted by bike. Although this number is minimal in comparison, most found it to be surprisingly big of a number as well. Bike commuting has grown in popularity across major cities especially as they become more bike-friendly with designated lanes. Velotric, a popular e-bike company, looked into cities where bike commuting has been on the rise by gathering information from Bike League, the Census Bureau, the National Highway Safety Administration, and several other sites.

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#1 Portland, Maine

The East Coast’s Portland city features 45 miles of bike lanes. Along with that is its Better Bikeways Initiative to develop a more bike-friendly infrastructure for all Portlanders. It features a crowdsourced mapping system as well as a public engagement platform.

  • bike commuters increased by 54 per every 10K people
    • Bikers per 10K in 2015: 157
    • Bikers per 10K in 2020: 211

#2 Burlington, Vermont

Burlington offers bike-friendly roadways, dedicated paths, and e-bike rentals for both residents and visitors of the city. Their $1.5 million FY 2022 budget was issued toward bike and pedestrian improvements around the city. As time continues, city planners have the intention to further increase bike commuting with the construction of protected bike lanes on more busy roads.

  • bike commuters increased by 53 per every 10K people
    • Bikers per 10K in 2015: 570
    • Bikers per 10K in 2020: 624

#3 Boston, Massachusetts

the Go Boston 2030 transportation plan has set its focus on developing dedicated bike lanes as well as increasing vehicle driver awareness of bicyclists with specific traffic signals and pavements marking for bike-only areas, since 2018. One of their biggest biking successes thus far is the establishment of 20 mph safety zones to calm down traffic and reduce fatalities.

  • bike commuters increased by 29 per 10K people
    • Bikers per 10K in 2015: 189
    • Bikers per 10K in 2020: 218

#4 New York City, New York

Because of the rise in COVID outbreaks in New York City, public transportation ridership decreased a whopping 31 percent. Commuters were forced to find an alternative which, by no surprise, was biking. 56,000 people chose to commute to their job by bike, and according to the city’s Department of Transportation about 530,000 cycling commutes are made daily. Their Green Wave plan focuses on expanding protected bike lines with 29.5 lane miles already installed in 2020.

  • bike commuters increased by 28 per 10K people
    • Bikers per 10K in 2015: 104
    • Bikers per 10K in 2020: 132

#5 Atlanta, Georgia

Since 2015, Atlants has had a chief bicycle officer who specializes on developing bike-related projects such as installing bike racks and other requests in the community.

  • bike commuters increased by 27 per 10K people
    • Bikers per 10K in 2015: 84
    • Bikers per 10K in 2020: 111
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