Biking to work is a rare choice among commuters—just 0.6% of people heading to work do so on two wheels. But that low number is the result of significant growth in recent decades, as the population of bike commuters have grown by 60% since 2000. Part of that has been driven by reports showing that riding a bike to work is a healthier option, avoids traffic jams and cuts down on commute times, as well as being cheaper than most, if not all, other options.
But the rise in biking is also thanks to changing city infrastructure, and evolving local government priorities meant to shift commuters from cars to greener options. A new report from the Accessibility Observatory at the University of Minnesota shows just how meaningful cities’ investments in infrastructure can be. Researchers looked at the largest 50 metro areas in the U.S., and ranked them based on how traffic stress and cycling comfort affect access to job destinations. The authors argued that investing in cycling infrastructure is the best way to improve access to jobs, rather than policies favoring cars. https://www.routefifty.com/infrastructure/2019/08/biking-job-accessibility/158971/ Study is from 2017 http://access.umn.edu/research/america/biking/2017/ -- a Andy Bach, [email protected] 608 658-1890 cell 608 261-5738 wk _______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list [email protected] http://lists.danenet.org/listinfo.cgi/bikies-danenet.org
