Originally Posted by
John Forester
The authors of the study state that the demand for bicycle transportation is rather inelastic with respect to facilities. That is, a 10% increase in facilities is associated with only a 3% or 2.5% (depends on type of facility) increase in bicycle commuting.
Is this perhaps a consequence of the bike lane to nowhere phenomenon wherein bike facilities don't connect and even recently added facilities don't correct this problem? I've never seen a locale with even 1% of its surface streets with any sort of bike-specific infrastructure, but everyplace I have ever been has a large percentage of streets that are unnecessarily dangerous to ride on. Even increasing the bike lane mileage by 100% wouldn't create a connected network. Perhaps when the bike lanes being put in are creating connected, direct (at least minimal stops) and safe (or perceived as safe) transit networks for cyclists then there will be a better return on investment.