How Many in the USA REALLY commute by bicycle?

I asking this here because I have seen pretty conflicting information so far, but I have yet to find a satisfactory source.

It would seem that the US Census Bureau only wants to count those that are 16 and older and riding to work, exempting school which is really stupid, the single largest per capita group riding bicycles for transportation are students!

But so far, the highest estimate I have seen for a nationwide number is around 4-5 million (ok that's only 0.01628% based on a population of 307,006,550 which is a figure ALSO provided by the US Census Bureau )

AND I just got an email from the Adventure Cycling Association asking me to tell my Senators to support Federal funding for bicycle and walking paths, and I want to know all the details.

I'd love to believe more people do, but some how I doubt the number is much higher than maybe 6 - 8 million even if you include all the people the Census leaves out.

I'm also sure that these numbers don't very effectively account for E-Bike use (yet an even smaller percentage) but hey, I'm trying to get a handle on it.

6 to 8 million...no way it's that many. The only way it goes that high or higher is by including students. If so, then it's significantly higher.

Lets see, theres me, Amberwolf, Wineboy.

Seriously, in my town there are lots that go 1-2 miles max to the colledge. I don't really call that commuting. Where I am, about 13 miles from campus, I see about 2 others that do the ride at the same time I do. Further in to town, about 6 miles from campus I see at least a dozen that are regulars, and that's just for the time of day that I am there.

I see zero evidence of anybody that has a drivers licence riding bikes to any other locations. That is, to places you can park a car. Campus has like, 2000 parking spaces for 20,000 students. Nearly all other bike riders in town that aren't lycras appear to live at the halfway house. Or you see them riding a bike to the bus stop. There are lots of bike riders around here, we sure have the weather. But they don't ride to work much that I can see. More like drive a car to where they ride the bike on weekends.

LI-ghtcycle said:

... a nationwide number is around 4-5 million (ok that's only 0.01628% based on a population of 307,006,550...

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I seriously doubt that the USA has 4 to 5 million people communting by bicycle. I think the real number is much lower than that.

BTW, 5 out of 307 is 1.628%, not 0.01628%.

Probably varies highly by region and in Tennessee, I am probably in a low-adopting region. But on "bike to work day", which is promoted highly, they muster maybe 50 people in a city of about 150 thousand for a group ride. It's a very low percentage here. Even with a major University in town, there are few who I know that commute to campus. There are, however, hundreds and hundreds of bikes on the campus, judging by the number parked outside the dorms.

Definitely less than a percent commute though. Somewhere around a tenth of a percent I would guess. Kids don't ride their bikes to school here; most of the schools are badly placed for kids riding bikes.

SamTexas said:

LI-ghtcycle said:

... a nationwide number is around 4-5 million (ok that's only 0.01628% based on a population of 307,006,550...

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I seriously doubt that the USA has 4 to 5 million people communting by bicycle. I think the real number is much lower than that.

BTW, 5 out of 307 is 1.628%, not 0.01628%.

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Yeah, math is not a strong suit of mine! Thanks for the correction.

John in CR said:

6 to 8 million...no way it's that many. The only way it goes that high or higher is by including students. If so, then it's significantly higher.

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Agreed, I'm including students and children in that estimate.

Even then, it's a pitifully small amount of people.

Don't get me wrong, I love bike paths and have more to use than most people considering where I live, but with the economy being so poor, unless someone can make a case to say we will create enough jobs to make it worth it for the average citizen, spending the same amount on bicycle infrastructure we have in good times would be irresponsible in today's economy, and I couldn't ethically support it.

I used to take my bike to school back in 5th-8th grade... Beyond that it wasn't terribly convenient.

Now I take my car to college, and my bike almost everywhere else, including work.

Yeah I use to ride using my ebike... but sadly I have to take my car in for the next few week since my ebike charger died.

As for the real number of people biking. They are probably doing some estimate.

Say they survey some city, some rural town, and maybe a few other area and generalize that to the whole nation. But I doubt that is the real case since some cities have fewer riders than other and it can vary wildly from places to places.

Yeah, according to this survey, California is biking central! (scroll to the bottom where it breaks things down by state)

http://www.kenkifer.com/bikepages/survey/commuter.htm

I'm sure they have some of the most consistently nice weather, so no big surprise. :wink:

The idea of not including college students is plain insulting; as if school and students aren't really doing anything. I work on a big campus and lived and worked on small to medium to giant campuses. Some, like Colorado State or Wisconsin, seem akin to China and have more problems parking bikes than cars. Others are actively anti-bike. Some of those are commuter campuses and others are so urban that most people walk instead of ride, much less drive.

Personally, commuting need not have to be any specific mileage or distance to be commuting. If you go there regularly and go by bike, then you're commuting by bike.

Indeed, going to get food has been a much better experience by bike compared to by car. Something about using a car seems wrong. It must be the sheer energy intensiveness of moving that lump of metal. I go just a couple of miles around here to various places and I always think of it as commuting.

I agree with Solcar. And it begs the related question to our community-how many of us use our electric bikes for our everyrday errands such as shopping, laundry, school and work rain or shine-everyday?

With a rear rack and folding baskets, there are very few errands I can't do...execpt maybe Home Depot. It could be done in most cases with a full tilt cargo bike, but all the rubber necking motorists may cause accidents. "Martha did you see that? He's got some 2x6's on his bike!"

Kent, a few years ago I carried a window air conditioner on the back of my ebike. I was encouraged that someone I passed showed surprise and then respect. I've also carried thin planks like 1 by 2s and ten foot copper pipe along the length of a bike. They only stick out about 2 to 3 feet from the front and the rear. I'm with H. G. Wells when it comes to observing the elegance of the bike.

North American infrastructure is anti bike. How many "highways" have sidewalks or bike paths? How many times would a cop stop someone trying to bike along a highway and tell them to use the backroads?

According to our city's latest report:
Approximately 60,000 trips are made on a bike every day in the City of Vancouver.
More than 3,500 cyclists commute to work downtown every morning, which is the equivalent to 65-75 full transit buses.
About four percent of commuting trips in Vancouver are made by bike, in some neighbourhoods, over 10 percent of commuting trips are made by bike (2006 Statistics Canada Census)

There are large and medium sized cities in the US of A where cycling is becoming more fashionable.
Places like Portland, Seattle, San Francisco, Chicago, Atlanta, Austin, Minneapolis, New York, Boston, etc. all have increasing numbers of bicycle commuters.

My Xtracycle is my station wagon for daily urban utility riding.

Lessss said:

North American infrastructure is anti bike. How many "highways" have sidewalks or bike paths? How many times would a cop stop someone trying to bike along a highway and tell them to use the backroads?

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Never mind "highways". In Houston, most two lane roads (one lane each way) don't even have a shoulder, let alone a sidewalk. Riding a bike, even an ebike, on those roads is something between "bravery" and "stupidity." Yet, one still must because there are no alternate roads.

"The Woodlands", where I live is a small city with one of the best bike infrastructure in the nation. Yet it's still far from ideal.
http://www.thewoodlandstx.com/pdfs/hikeandbiketrailsmap.pdf

SamTexas said:

Never mind "highways". In Houston, most two lane roads (one lane each way) don't even have a shoulder, let alone a sidewalk. Riding a bike, even an ebike, on those roads is something between "bravery" and "stupidity." Yet, one still must because there are no alternate roads.

"The Woodlands", where I live is a small city with one of the best bike infrastructure in the nation. Yet it's still far from ideal.
http://www.thewoodlandstx.com/pdfs/hikeandbiketrailsmap.pdf

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I only take those 2 lane roads on the weekends. Tried it a few times during the week and thought I was going to die. These Tomball truck drivers think they are in Nascar.

i think portland gets to over 10% commuting on bikes in the summer, and about 5-8% for the rest of the year. girls on bikes is a big thing here. seems like girls get it, guys are still hung up on proving how big their truck is.

snellemin said:

SamTexas said:

Never mind "highways". In Houston, most two lane roads (one lane each way) don't even have a shoulder, let alone a sidewalk. Riding a bike, even an ebike, on those roads is something between "bravery" and "stupidity." Yet, one still must because there are no alternate roads.

"The Woodlands", where I live is a small city with one of the best bike infrastructure in the nation. Yet it's still far from ideal.
http://www.thewoodlandstx.com/pdfs/hikeandbiketrailsmap.pdf

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I only take those 2 lane roads on the weekends. Tried it a few times during the week and thought I was going to die. These Tomball truck drivers think they are in Nascar.

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I hear ya, that is why if I am on a narrow two lane road, I take at LEAST one third of the road or ride straight down the middle, and play dumb (I have a mirror, I KNOW which cars are bluffing and which ones aren't going to give me space, pretty easy to tell if they are slowing down or not) and get them to go around me.

Even the biggest jerks that will sneak up behind ya and blast a horn are really just the same bullies you knew in high school, and just as cowardly, 9 times out of 10 if you call their bluff they will go around ya.

For that 1 out of 10, they are either looking to hurt you or totally unaware of you, and I have had to get off the road a couple times, but It's pretty funny when one thinks he's gonna get me and a few people with me to scatter like rats when they honk their cute little car horn, and then I blast my air horn and I have yet to have any of them NOT go around after that (I think most of them think another truck is behind them or something and they just go at that point ... brain donors I swear! :lol: ).

I'm having a bit of a problem with the word commute I guess. Clearly it means different to me than for Nuevomexicano. At times in my construction carrer, I had commutes of 120 miles one way. Other times it was merely 40-70 miles depending on which side of El Paso I was swatting nails on. That's definitely a commute, even by LA standards.

I call my ride now a commute because at 15 miles it's further than most ordinary people would ride a bike, that is, further than 2 miles one way. Also I live more than 10 miles from the city center so it's not just getting around downtown. I "commute" to town in my mind. So to me the question how many commute is quite different from how many regularly ride a bike to school, or if at the dorm, from school to the bar. One activity is a commute, the other is just transportation of less than 3 miles. When I was in school, I rode a bike to school for class and for my student job for many years. But I never thought of the 1 mile ride as a commute.

Again, here in Las Cruces there is a small handful of people who ride a significant distance to work or whatever regularly. Nearly 100% of those are going to campus, where parking is impossible even after you buy the expensive sticker for the car. Most still drive anyway, and there is a regularly scheculed 7:50 accident on the freeway exit to the U every day. There is a large number who ride a bike to campus from 2 miles out though. If that is considered a commute, then there are a lot of them.

To any other location in town where parking is possible and the traffic is not insane, only those with a DUI are commuting by bike. Except for one or two 1% ers like me. The DUI/ just released from jail crowd is always obvious, as they try to learn how to ride a bike again after 30 years in a car.

dogman said:

I'm having a bit of a problem with the word commute I guess. Clearly it means different to me than for Nuevomexicano. At times in my construction carrer, I had commutes of 120 miles one way. Other times it was merely 40-70 miles depending on which side of El Paso I was swatting nails on. That's definitely a commute, even by LA standards.

I call my ride now a commute because at 15 miles it's further than most ordinary people would ride a bike, that is, further than 2 miles one way. Also I live more than 10 miles from the city center so it's not just getting around downtown. I "commute" to town in my mind. So to me the question how many commute is quite different from how many regularly ride a bike to school, or if at the dorm, from school to the bar. One activity is a commute, the other is just transportation of less than 3 miles. When I was in school, I rode a bike to school for class and for my student job for many years. But I never thought of the 1 mile ride as a commute.

Again, here in Las Cruces there is a small handful of people who ride a significant distance to work or whatever regularly. Nearly 100% of those are going to campus, where parking is impossible even after you buy the expensive sticker for the car. Most still drive anyway, and there is a regularly scheculed 7:50 accident on the freeway exit to the U every day. There is a large number who ride a bike to campus from 2 miles out though. If that is considered a commute, then there are a lot of them.

To any other location in town where parking is possible and the traffic is not insane, only those with a DUI are commuting by bike. Except for one or two 1% ers like me. The DUI/ just released from jail crowd is always obvious, as they try to learn how to ride a bike again after 30 years in a car.

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The idea of commutes having to be really long normalizes a fairly out of the ordinary practice. Commute should be regularity, not distance, for a work-like activity (paid work, volunteer work, school, etc...). I agree that its not going to the bar to drink, but going to campus isn't going to the bar. However, I do think that a stay-at-home parent who regularly travels to drop the kids off at school should be thought of as commuting to work. Its their job after all.

My neighbor is a woodworker who owns a shop a half block from his house. His commute by walking is still a commute because he does it every weekday morning at the same time for work. He may have the shortest non-telecommute on record and commuting by foot is rare around here compared to New York City, but its still a commute.

You're right about the DUI crowd, but not every middle age man poorly riding a poorly adjusted bike is a DUI'er. There are a lot of really poor workers in Albuquerque, especially construction laborers who bike to work (or at least to a centralized pick up point) because cars are out of the question monetarily. I always feel like pulling them aside and offering some tips on how to adjust the seat post--its always too low because they're worried about putting their feet down.

dogman said:

I'm having a bit of a problem with the word commute I guess. Clearly it means different to me than for Nuevomexicano. At times in my construction carrer, I had commutes of 120 miles one way. Other times it was merely 40-70 miles depending on which side of El Paso I was swatting nails on. That's definitely a commute, even by LA standards.

I call my ride now a commute because at 15 miles it's further than most ordinary people would ride a bike, that is, further than 2 miles one way. Also I live more than 10 miles from the city center so it's not just getting around downtown. I "commute" to town in my mind. So to me the question how many commute is quite different from how many regularly ride a bike to school, or if at the dorm, from school to the bar. One activity is a commute, the other is just transportation of less than 3 miles. When I was in school, I rode a bike to school for class and for my student job for many years. But I never thought of the 1 mile ride as a commute.

Again, here in Las Cruces there is a small handful of people who ride a significant distance to work or whatever regularly. Nearly 100% of those are going to campus, where parking is impossible even after you buy the expensive sticker for the car. Most still drive anyway, and there is a regularly scheculed 7:50 accident on the freeway exit to the U every day. There is a large number who ride a bike to campus from 2 miles out though. If that is considered a commute, then there are a lot of them.

To any other location in town where parking is possible and the traffic is not insane, only those with a DUI are commuting by bike. Except for one or two 1% ers like me. The DUI/ just released from jail crowd is always obvious, as they try to learn how to ride a bike again after 30 years in a car.

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We need a bumper sticker or something saying "E-biker 1% er" ! That would probably get some people's attention, but some might then be scared to talk to us he he.

LI-ghtcycle said:

Yeah, according to this survey, California is biking central! (scroll to the bottom where it breaks things down by state)

http://www.kenkifer.com/bikepages/survey/commuter.htm

I'm sure they have some of the most consistently nice weather, so no big surprise. :wink:

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Nice table. So for Tennnessee, I thought maybe a tenth of a percent. The "high" guestimate gives about 6 hundredths of a percent, so off by a factor of 2 too high. The "low" guesstimate puts me off by a factor of 20 too high.

I love the "low" estimates of 0 for Alabama and Arkansas. Really? Not a soul in the whole state? I'd give 'em 10 just for giggles.

The "Webster" definition of a commuting is to "travel some distance between one's home and place of work on a regular basis". What is meant by "some distance" depends on what you are interested in determining.

For me, the interesting number is how many people take a bike that would otherwise drive a car as a sole occupant. That is, what an ebike enables for me is the ability to utilize an extremely low impact alternative for my daily trip to my office. I don't take a bus because I don't live close to a bus route. I can't walk because I live too far away. I could ride a non-ebike but the route is very hilly and while I have done it in the past, I know I won't do it for long before I really dislike the commute and go back to driving.

I work on a college campus and some students who live in the dorms take their bikes across campus. However, the vast majority walk or take the campus bus. No one drives from place to place on campus; parking is a nightmare. In that case, I don't consider that "commuting" as the distance does not meet the standard of "some distance" for my purpose. Taking a bike would be smart and save probably 10-15 minutes of walking but most students don't do it. As best I can tell, the majority of the bikes stay locked to the racks and rails all semester. Not sure why they have them to tell you the truth. A few students do ride religiously however.

So I do need to give a "shout out" to a friend of mine who is piloting an ebike sharing program on campus. A link to a description is at:
http://www.utk.edu/tntoday/2011/09/06/nations-first-automated-ebike-system/

While I am not sure who consitutes the target clients since there are so many bikes on campus and the campus is not that large (that is, for on-campus travel, a non-ebike would probably be fine), I do admire the elegant system for checking bikes in and out and keeping them charged. Most of it was put together from scratch. I am curious to see how many get stolen because after they leave the automated rack, the rider needs to be smart about how to use the U-lock. I saw one the other day with the Ulock through the spokes, not locked to the rack. You could have carried it off or thrown it in the back of a truck. Also, the Ulocks all have the same combination I think. Someone will have to manually change the combinations frequently.

Yeah, going to work to paint, tar a roof, whatever, I look like a drunk DUI bum too. Actually, bums dress better. How do you tell the difference? I can RIDE! The ones I refer to wobble down the road even when sober, and you see them at stop signs wondering what to do with thier feet. While I know what to do with my feet, do a track stand.

Re the workers, it is sad that a guy can swat nails or tape sheetrock for 40-60 hrs a week, and still not afford a car. I've been there all my life, it's even lower pay in this part of the state. But it does get harder to afford stuff when the legal bills mount up. I've worked side by side with these guys all my life, and believe me too many of em do blow all their money on court dates after a drunken mistake. Those cars left in ditches get costly too.

I get it about the definition of commute, I see that you could commute from the bedroom to the shop in your yard. But I just thought distance at first. No doubt they did too, to not count colledge students.

Not counting kids or adults riding with kids, I see on average a couple dozen cyclists during my 10 minutes on the road to get to work, or coming home from work, on my ~2.5 mile each-way commute. Few are "lycra", many are Hispanic, some are suit-and-tie, some apparently recreational, some obviously utility-riding (cargo transport/etc). Add another handful of adults riding with kids (not counting the kids) at certain times of day. My commute varies for time of day quite a lot from day to day, anything from pre-dawn to near-midnight, and every time in-between, and I can probably see less than a square mile of area total, from my road path, and this only counts those that are generally in the direciton I am going, not where I came from, as I rarely need to look behind me enough to notice them (unless they're in my mirror by chance).

If there are that many in that small space and time, there are a lot more at other times and also everywhere else in the valley.


When I am getting groceries or on other trips, I again see those kinds of numbers, and I also typically see two to three, as high as five or six, bikes locked up at or near my destination (not counting any I pass on the way), of people also shopping there. At least one in ten or twelve of those has permanent cargo carriers of some type attached, from simple homemade stuff to purpose-made cargo baskets and/or racks or bags; some of these setups are significant volumes (though not as large as mine ).

Again, if there's that many in this small space and time....


I'm not even counting the most-likely-homeless that live off their bike&trailer setups, of which there are at least 6 I know of in this area.


I have a double handful of friends that either always commute by bike (including a couple of ASU professors), or use them in their work (a geologist at a land-use-testing company), or go get groceries and other things by bike instead of car whenever this is possible, or other non-recreational uses of bikes (in additon to recreation, in most cases).