How many Americans ride a bike? How often do they ride? Why do they ride?
Accurate information on bicycling participation is essential in evaluating our overall work and the effectiveness of our programs and key projects. Existing research on bicycling participation has been been limited to either recreational riding or transportation riding of certain types. This new participation research, commissioned by PeopleForBikes and conducted by Breakaway Research Group, is designed to address these limitations by standardizing how participation is bicycling of any kind, by any type of rider, is measured and tracked over time.
Topline results:
- Thirty-two percent of Americans ages 3+ rode a bicycle at least one day in the past year.
- Of those who rode a bicycle, 34% rode five days or fewer.
- Those who rode for transportation are much more likely to have done so to get to and from social, recreation, or leisure activities (71%) than to have commuted to and from work or school (51%).
- Half of adults in the U.S. don’t have access to an operational bicycle at home.
- Forty-seven percent of adults in the U.S. want to ride more often and 48% perceive bicycling as a convenient way to get from one place to another. However, 50% worry about being hit by a car and 43% say they would be more likely to ride a bicycle if motor vehicles and bicycles were physically separated.