On Thursday, the US Census Bureau released its 2016 1-year American Community Survey Data. The latest data shows that bicycling to work in Philadelphia remains at 2.2 percent or 14,379 people. That is virtually unchanged from 2015. The data continues to show that more men commute to work than women in Philadelphia, although that gap narrowed significantly in 2016.
Our eight suburban counties continue to show low-bike commute numbers – around 0.1 percent to 0.5 percent of all commuters. Actual values range from 133 bike commuters in Gloucester County to 989 in Montgomery County.
The criteria for a bike commuter is someone who bicycled to work three days in the week previous to filling out the survey. This does not count students or intermodal commuters since connecting bus or train rides are often longer than the bike portion of the trip.
Nationally, Philadelphia remains number one for US cities with over 1,000,000 residents. It is ranked 11th among the 70 largest cities, tied with Denver. Nearby Washington, DC is now second with a 4.6 percent mode share. Pittsburgh is ranked eighth with a 2.6 percent mode share.
More information on national data is available in this release from the League of American Bicyclists.