How many in your town ride a bike to work? Find out with census data and post it here
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Roody
Somebody on another forum used US Census data to generate a table that shows how many people ride a bike to work, compared to drive alone, carpool, walk, take public transit, etc. You can also find out the percentage of carfree people in your area.
This is pretty interesting. You can see how your own city stacks up against others. We've had threads on which city is the most bike friendly, but this gives some objective data. I think it would be interesting if lots of people post the figures for their own town, or other areas of interest.
To make your post easier and more consistent, you can use the form I typed in post #2 below. Just hit 'Reply with quote' on Post #2 and type in the data for your city. Then remove the {QUOTE=Roody} and {/QUOTE} formatting and send the reply.
Of course, add any comments/questions you like!
Link for Firefox (http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/STGeoSearchByListServlet?_lang=en&_ts=200172945840)
Link for Internet Explorer (http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/STGeoSearchByListServlet?_lang=en&_ts=200244315530)
Instructions for using the applet:
Select the geographic type from the first dropdown menu. For most people, "Metropolitan Statistical Area/Micropolitan Statistical Area" will probably be best.
Select a geographic area from the second dropdown and click 'Show Result.'(Sorry, there is data for the USA only.)
The BikeForums Team
-adv-
This is an archived thread, you can find the full version of this thread, with images, links and more content here.
For comparison, here are figures for the entire country:
Name of city = United States
Car, Truck or Van = 87.7 %
Public transportation = 4.7 %
Walked = 2.5 %
Bicycle = 0.4 %
No vehicle available = 4.1 %
Roody
Name of city = Lansing/East Lansing, Michigan
Car, Truck or Van = 92.8
Public transportation = 1.4
Walked = 1.8
Bicycle = 0.3
No vehicle available = 2.1
So my town is much worse than the national average, except that bicycle approaches the average. I'm not surprised! This is Car City, USA.
wahoonc
Name of city = Dunn, NC
Car, Truck or Van =92.4
Public transportation =0.1
Walked = 2.9
Bicycle =0.0
No vehicle available =1.7
This town is in a mostly rural county but is located approximately 45 miles from a decent sized metro area. I was not living in the area during the last census.
Edit: Updated using link provided by Average Commuter
'nother Edit: I went back and looked at the figures...they are calling out a population of over 46,000 that has to be that county. The town of Dunn only has a population of around 9-10k and no mass transit. There is a county bus for the elderly and handicapped.
Aaron:)
Roody
Whew, I'm glad Aaron tried this and it worked. Starting this thread was a pretty high-level clerical task for tech-challenged Roody!
I don't get your figures, Aaron. 94 % commuted by car, but 27 % had no vehicle available. How do they swing this?
wahoonc
Whew, I'm glad Aaron tried this and it worked. Starting this thread was a pretty high-level clerical task for tech-challenged Roody!
I don't get your figures, Aaron. 94 % commuted by car, but 27 % had no vehicle available. How do they swing this?
I pulled from two different tables I will go back and double check the numbers tomorrow. I couldn't get your link to work, so I went to the main page and pulled from there. I may have mixed households and individuals. I aren't no math major...biology was my field of study and I ended up in Construction Mangement:p
Aaron:)
AverageCommuter
I got an error when I tried your link Roody. Hopefully this link (http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/STTable?_bm=y&-qr_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0801&-geo_id=01000US&-ds_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_&-redoLog=false) will work better.
Name of city = Muncie, IN
Car, Truck or Van = 86.6
Public transportation = 1.6
Walked = 4.7
Bicycle = 2.9
No vehicle available = 3.7
Roody
The link works OK for me, with Firefox, but you do have to use both dropdown menus to fill in your city name.
bhtooefr
On the first link, I get "Missing dataset parameter (ds_name)."
AverageCommuter's link... click Geography, and I think that makes it work.
However, my county isn't covered. So, here's all of Ohio:
Name of city = (I live in Marengo, OH - which is in Morrow County, but there wasn't enough data, so I'm using the entire state)
Car, Truck or Van = 92.3%
Public transportation = 1.7% (I KNOW that number will be high for me - the only public transportation available is the county elderly transportation, and I'm not even sure that comes out here. Unless, of course, you count school buses.)
Walked = 1.9% (Also, I suspect that's high. Distances involved are rather high.)
Bicycle = 0.2% (With the roads, and everything being redneck infested, I think even that's high for here.)
No vehicle available = 2.5%
gwd
Name of city = Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area
Car, Truck or Van =78.8%
Public transportation =13.2%
Walked = 2.6%
Bicycle =0.4%
No vehicle available =5.5%
These numbers include all the suburbs from other sources I've seen, more than 30% of households in DC have no car.
Name of city = San Jose / Sunnyvale / Santa Clara, CA
Car, Truck or Van = 88.5
Public transportation = 3.1
Walked = 2.2
Bicycle = 1.1
No vehicle available = 1.9
Men are more likely to bicycle while women are more likely to walk or take public transportation. 14% of people work outside their county of residence, i.e. this area has some serious suburban sprawl.
jimmuter
Name of city = Durham, NC
Car, Truck or Van = 89.2
Public transportation = 3.4
Walked = 1.7
Bicycle = 0.6
No vehicle available = 2.9
wahoonc
Men are more likely to bicycle while women are more likely to walk or take public transportation. 14% of people work outside their county of residence, i.e. this area has some serious suburban sprawl.
maybe we should tax Roody's technical ability and get everyone to post screen shots of their area:D I After niknak's comment I went back and looked at the percentages again and the county mine is based on 58.8% work out of the county...talk about bedroom community:eek: with the mean travel time to work being 27 minutes.
Aaron:)
cooperwx
Name of city = Asheville, NC
Car, Truck or Van = 88.3
Public transportation = 0.9
Walked = 3.0
Bicycle = 1.4
Worked at home = 5.7
91% work within county of residence. 45.3% have <15 minute travel time to work.
jimmuter
maybe we should tax Roody's technical ability and get everyone to post screen shots of their area:D I After niknak's comment I went back and looked at the percentages again and the county mine is based on 58.8% work out of the county...talk about bedroom community:eek: with the mean travel time to work being 27 minutes.
Here in Durham, NC, 36.1% work outside the county. I've always heard that we have a net gain during the day as people filter in from Raleigh to come to work. I don't know where one finds that data, but if it's true, I guess that makes us the opposite of a bedroom community.
I find the mean commute time interesting. It's 23.2 minutes here. Of course if I walk or take the bus, I exceed the mean slightly. If I bike or drive, my commute time is well below the mean. It would be interesting to see the mean commute time by mode of transportation. I'll just ask the Census Bureau to crosstab that for me. :D
derath
Name of city = Baltimore, MD
Car, Truck or Van =84.9
Public transportation =7.6
Walked = 2.4
Bicycle =.2
No vehicle available =6.4
At least I help in one category
Worked at home= 3.4
-D
rockmom
Name of city = Madison, WI
Car, Truck or Van = 76.8
Public transportation = 7.2
Walked = 7.7
Bicycle = 4.0
No vehicle available = 5.3
Roody
OK, I think I fixed the problem with the link. It looks like you need a different link for IE and Firefox. I edited the OP to give both links. I tried it with both, so hopefully we're in business now!
I swear, I'm never again starting one of these techno threads!!
:mad: :crash: :crash: :mad:
Roody
Name of city = Madison, WI
Car, Truck or Van = 76.8
Public transportation = 7.2
Walked = 7.7
Bicycle = 4.0
No vehicle available = 5.3
Best city yet. Madison, WI.
wahoonc
OK, I think I fixed the problem with the link. It looks like you need a different link for IE and Firefox. I edited the OP to give both links. I tried it with both, so hopefully we're in business now!
I swear, I'm never again starting one of these techno threads!!
:mad: :crash: :crash: :mad:
:roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao: still doesn't work for me:p This LINK (http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/STGeoSearchByListServlet?_lang=en&_ts=200247324656) might...
Aaron:)
Roody
:roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao: still doesn't work for me:p This LINK (http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/STGeoSearchByListServlet?_lang=en&_ts=200247324656) might...
Aaron:)
Well smart aleck, your link doesn't work for me! Not in Firefox, anyway.
:p
I'm starting to think the problem is with the Census bureau, not the links.
Maybe they keep changing the url to fool terrorists. We wouldn't want them to know how overly dependent we are on cars. They might use the information against us. ;)
wahoonc
Well smart aleck, your link doesn't work for me! Not in Firefox, anyway.
:p
I'm starting to think the problem is with the Census bureau, not the links.
Maybe they keep changing the url to fool terrorists. We wouldn't want them to know how overly dependent we are on cars. They might use the information against us. ;)
Nope it's the website and the computer and them stale cookies it ate. Shame on the gummit for feeding our computers stale cookies.;) :D
Aaron:)
gerv
Name of city = Des Moines IA
Car, Truck or Van = 84%
car pooked =10%x`x`
Public transportation =1.4
I don't even see the below categories in this survery. Where did you find this?
Walked =
Bicycle =
One interesting statistic:
VEHICLES AVAILABLE ( I assume 4-wheeled, gasoline powered...)
No vehicle available 2.5%
1 vehicle available 20.2%
2 vehicles available 46.5%
>2 vehicles 30.8%
The above would probably explain why you never see a taxi-cab in the city. Also might might indicate the potential of the scrap metal industry at some point in the future.
gerv
Ok... found it. You need to be in the 2005 data, not earlier.
Public transportation (excluding taxicab) 0.8%
walked 1.4
bicycle 0.3%
taxicab 1.1% (I don't believe this one!)
worked at home 3%
Best growth potential, however, is the bicycle. If I could convince my neighbor, the percentages would double!
rockmom
Yeah Madison!!!
There are even a few people here who paddle to work.
wheel
My home town...
Name of city = Minneapolis MN
Car, Truck or Van = 75.2
Public transportation = 12.5
Walked = 5.8
Bicycle = 2.4
WAH =2.4
oilfreeandhappy
Name of city = Fort Collins, CO
Car, Truck or Van = 84.8 %
Public transportation = 1.3 %
Walked = 2.7 %
Bicycle = 3.9 %
No vehicle available = 2.6 %
bragi
Location: Seattle, WA, and surrounding areas (King County)
Car, Truck or Van = 80.1%
Public transportation = 9.4%
Walked = 3.4%
Bicycle = 1.1%
Other= 1.0%
Works at home = 5.1%
I thought it was interesting that the percentage of males who commute by bike was very much higher than females (1.3% vs. 0.7%). I also thought it was interesting that almost 10% of people used public transportation, even though our public transportation network is virtually nonexistent. (okay, our bus service is decent, but that's literally all we have...) It sort of makes me wonder what the picture would look like if we actually invested less of our tax money in highways and more in public transport.
AverageCommuter
Of course today all of the links work for me.
Here in Muncie, 89.4% work in this county. The mean commute time is 14.8 minutes, and 40% travel less than 10 minutes to get to work, including me.
gcl8a
I'll play, too (this is based on _all_ trips over 300m, not just to work):
Name of city = Odense, Denmark (pop. ~150,000)
Car, Truck or Van = 60.6%
Public transportation = 6.1 %
Walked = 8.8 %
Bicycle = 24.6 %
What do I win? :D
Roody
I'll play, too (this is based on _all_ trips over 300m, not just to work):
Name of city = Odense, Denmark (pop. ~150,000)
Car, Truck or Van = 60.6%
Public transportation = 6.1 %
Walked = 8.8 %
Bicycle = 24.6 %
What do I win? :D
Damn! No prizes! I knew I was forgetting something! Oh well, too late now.
Definitely the best so far, but it's hard to compare, since all trips are included in your figures. So I guess this would include recreational cycling, walking the dog after dinner, and so forth.
Do you think a lot of people do ride or walk to work there? Is Odense the city where all the traffic signals are timed to favor cyclists?
AverageCommuter
What do I win? :D
The opportunity to live in a city and country with a more intelligent outlook on transportation.
gcl8a
Damn! No prizes! I knew I was forgetting something! Oh well, too late now.
Definitely the best so far, but it's hard to compare, since all trips are included in your figures. So I guess this would include recreational cycling, walking the dog after dinner, and so forth.
Do you think a lot of people do ride or walk to work there? Is Odense the city where all the traffic signals are timed to favor cyclists?
Yeah, no fair. I'm a 'ringer'. :D
Subjectively speaking (ie, guessing), the numbers probably hold for commuting to work +/- a few percent (although I wouldn't be surprised if only counting commuting would raise the percentage of cyclists, as many car trips are to the store when larger carrying capacity is desired).
As to traffic lights, there aren't all that many, really, as they make good use of round-a-bouts here. There is no special timing as the difference in bike speeds is so great. You quickly learn which roads/paths to ride if you want to avoid lights and make time, and there are several intersection-free paths to/from downtown.
Turning left at a light is a pain, though, as you have to make an 'L' turn: go across, stop at the far corner, wait for the green in the other direction, and go. Overall, though, it's a great place to bike. You can read glowing, newlywed-esque praise here:
http://www.mip.sdu.dk/~glewin/cykling.html
There was also a case-study thread of my old commute, which gives an idea of both the good and bad cycling infrstructure:
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=241073
(To avoid hijacking this thread, feel free to revive the one above.)
Tude
:(
I don't even have a "Bicycle" category.
Artkansas
All I got with either browser was "Missing dataset parameter (ds_name)."
HardyWeinberg
Car, truck, or van -- drove alone
12,457
73.7%
Car, truck, or van -- carpooled
2,164
12.8%
Public transportation (including taxicab)
562
3.3%
Walked
750
4.4%
Other means
275
1.6%
Worked at home
703
4.2%
Mean travel time to work (minutes)
19.3
(X)
(2005 data not avail for my zip)
(I went in from the front page, the IE link in the OP was dead for me)
evblazer
My Current area:
Denton--Lewisville, TX Urbanized Area (They don't count my little town of Double Oak or my home town of darien, ct)
Car, Truck or Van = 91.5%
Public transportation = 0.3%
Walked = 1.8%
Bicycle = 0.3% (.4% Male/.1% Female)
Other= 1.5%
Works at home = 4.6%
No Vehicle 1.7%
1 Vehicle 18.5%
2 Vehicles 52.2%
3 or more 27.6%
Looking at the percent input compared to my personal experience I think it might be overstating the non-car. Means ot transportation is 1.7% Vehicles available is 0.1%
Lamplight
For the Nashville metro area, which includes my town:
Car, truck, or van: 93.2%
Drove alone 83.2%
Carpooled 10.0%
In 2-person carpool 7.8%
In 3-person carpool 1.4%
In 4-or-more person carpool 0.8%
Workers per car, truck, or van 1.14
Note the stellar public transportation figure. :rolleyes:
Public transportation (excluding taxicab) 0.7%
Walked 1.3%
Bicycle 0.1%
Taxicab, motorcycle, or other means 1.2%
Roody
For the Nashville metro area, which includes my town:
Car, truck, or van: 93.2%
Drove alone 83.2%
Carpooled 10.0%
In 2-person carpool 7.8%
In 3-person carpool 1.4%
In 4-or-more person carpool 0.8%
Workers per car, truck, or van 1.14
Note the stellar public transportation figure. :rolleyes:
Public transportation (excluding taxicab) 0.7%
Walked 1.3%
Bicycle 0.1%
Taxicab, motorcycle, or other means 1.2%
I'm not sure but I think this might be the worst one yet, at least for larger cities. :(
What's going on in Nashville?
bragi
I'll play, too (this is based on _all_ trips over 300m, not just to work):
Name of city = Odense, Denmark (pop. ~150,000)
Car, Truck or Van = 60.6%
Public transportation = 6.1 %
Walked = 8.8 %
Bicycle = 24.6 %
What do I win? :D
No fair! Denmark is flat, and the petrol is expensive. Throw in a few dozen steep hills, and organize your economy for the convenience of oil companies, and see what happens, smarty pants. :)
vulpes
The Firefox link in the OP still doesn't work for me. Maybe because I'm running Linux. I was going to look at what year this census data is for. Most census data lags by a year or so since they have to compile and analize the data collected. I wonder how much change has ocurred since then. My guess is a sharp increase in bike use with the higher gas prices. At least I see more and more commuters pass my house before I leave and I see more and more on the road almost daily. :)
wahoonc
The Firefox link in the OP still doesn't work for me. Maybe because I'm running Linux. I was going to look at what year this census data is for. Most census data lags by a year or so since they have to compile and analize the data collected. I wonder how much change has ocurred since then. My guess is a sharp increase in bike use with the higher gas prices. At least I see more and more commuters pass my house before I leave and I see more and more on the road almost daily. :)
Given the size of the some of the sample areas I doubt you would see much more than a tenth of a point or two. I have not seen any more cyclists than normal but I have been seeing more of the smaller motorcycles and large scooters. The plumber that is the office next to ours has gone from one guy commuting in on a scooter to about 4 in the past few months. BTW these are the big 150cc-250cc scooters that require licensing and can run at highway speeds.
Aaron:)
Lamplight
I'm not sure but I think this might be the worst one yet, at least for larger cities. :(
What's going on in Nashville?
Most people around here think it's silly for adults to ride bikes. And the few who do ride are almost always strictly recreational riders. Where I work there are 15 employees. Not counting myself, at least 6 others could easily ride to work but they wouldn't be caught dead doing. :rolleyes:
Old_Fart
Location: Seattle, WA, and surrounding areas (King County)
Car, Truck or Van = 80.1%
Public transportation = 9.4%
Walked = 3.4%
Bicycle = 1.1%
Other= 1.0%
Works at home = 5.1%
I thought it was interesting that the percentage of males who commute by bike was very much higher than females (1.3% vs. 0.7%). I also thought it was interesting that almost 10% of people used public transportation, even though our public transportation network is virtually nonexistent. (okay, our bus service is decent, but that's literally all we have...) It sort of makes me wonder what the picture would look like if we actually invested less of our tax money in highways and more in public transport.
In Seattle proper it looks better than the whole metro area.
Car, Truck or Van = 67.6%
Public transportation = 17%
Walked = 6.9%
Bicycle = 2.3%
Other= 1.1%
Works at home = 5.1%
I agree with you on the public transportation situation here. I've lived here all my life, 45 years so far. About every ten years there's a big push for public transportation but it always gets killed by the not-in-my-back-yarders. I'm thoroughly amazed that Sound Transit is actually managing to build the new light rail lines. Maybe in another 20 years it will expanded to enough areas to be really useful.
bpohl
I'm not sure but I think this might be the worst one yet, at least for larger cities. :(
What's going on in Nashville?
Ahhhh, good ole Indianapolis. Famous for, what else, but fast cars...
MEANS OF TRANSPORTATION TO WORK
Car, truck, or van
91.4%
+/-1.3
90.7%
+/-2.1
92.1%
+/-1.4