A new report released today by the League of American Bicyclists using data from the Census Bureau shows encouraging signs for bicycling commuting trends. Massachusetts, Maryland and Tennessee saw their bicycle commuter numbers increase by over 100% since 2005. Alabama had an increase of 20.2% (0.11% of population up from 0.09% in 2005) but is still ranked a dismal 48th in the country.
Many cities that have invested heavily in bicycle infrastructure have had souring numbers of bike commuters. Portland, OR had a 248.6% increase since 2000. Minneapolis, MN: 139.8% increase; Washington DC: 255.6% increase.
Other cities in the southeast have had notable increases in bicycle commuters:
- New Orleans, LA, is ranked 10th in the country with 2.4% of the population bike commuting 108.5% growth since 2000
- Austin, TX, is ranked 16th with 1.6% bike commuting (67.6% growth)
- Tampa, FL, is ranked 18th with 1.4% bike commuting (57% growth)
- Atlanta, GA, is ranked 39th with 0.6% bike commuting (104.4% growth)
No cities in Alabama were ranked in the top 70.
The City of Mobile has 0.04% of population bike commuting with a total number of bicycle commuters at 27.
Download the full report here: http://bikeleague.org/sites/default/files/ACS_report_final_forweb_2.pdf