Recent Streetsblog USA posts about Data

Best Bike Cities? Forget the Census, Let’s Start Asking Mobile Apps

By Michael Andersen | Jul 18, 2014 | 3 Comments

Michael Andersen blogs for The Green Lane Project, a PeopleForBikes program that helps U.S. cities build better bike lanes to create low-stress streets. The most popular bicycle transportation measurement system in the country is hopelessly skewed toward a niche activity. We refer, of course, to the U.S. Census. The niche activity: going to work. Most […]

Building a Bike-Ped Data Model That Planners Will Take Seriously

By Tanya Snyder | May 30, 2014 | 1 Comment

It’s hard to make the case for public spending on biking and walking without hard data. And quality data has been hard to come by. The Rails-to-Trails Conservancy is looking to change that. The group has taken on a new project to rigorously measure walking and biking on various corridors, providing baseline data that can […]

Talking Headways Podcast: A Deep Dive Into Biking and Walking Census Data

By Tanya Snyder | May 12, 2014 | No Comments

We were so excited about the first-ever Census report exclusively on biking and walking that we devoted this entire episode of the Talking Headways podcast to an interview with its author, Brian McKenzie. Bike commuting is up 60 percent since 2000, the Census shows, and people with low incomes are by far the biggest proportion […]

Low-Income Americans Walk and Bike to Work the Most

By Tanya Snyder | May 8, 2014 | 7 Comments

The U.S. Census Bureau just released its first-ever report exclusively on walking and biking [PDF]. Using data from the American Community Survey, the report shows how rates of active transportation vary by age, income, education, race, and the availability of a vehicle. It’s a lot more detail than the usual Census data release on how people get […]

Could the Strava App Provide the Biking and Walking Data Cities Crave?

By Tanya Snyder | May 2, 2014 | 27 Comments

Strava may be making the leap from feel-good gadget for hard core exercise buffs to serious planning tool for cities looking to improve active transportation. Strava is a mobile app that runners and cyclists use to record their activities, track their progress, and see their stats and personal records. Its website shows a bunch of young, […]