The Bicycle Coalition has officially published the I Bike PHL 2023 Report. In the fall months of September and October, volunteers for the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia took 90-minute shifts on weekday mornings and evenings collecting data for the Fall 2023 Bike Counts. This is the 19th year that the Bicycle Coalition has completed its counts to measure cycling trends in the greater Philadelphia area. Our volunteer counters tracked bicyclist behaviors like riding on the sidewalk or the wrong way down the street, whether they are wearing helmets, and if they are on Indego bikes or their own. Counters also mark down perceived gender, which street they’re traveling on, and the number of E-Scooters. Historic BCGP data, DVRPC data, and Census data, reveal highlights and areas of needed improvement in Philadelphia’s micro-mobility infrastructure to make our streets safer and more accessible.
Highlights in 2023
Though there was a major hit to cycling because of COVID-19 in 2020, levels of commuting have been rising steadily. This year measured at 90% of 2019 counts, partially due to an increasing percentage of E-Scooter use. Additionally, bridges stayed at even levels of bike commuters and we saw a significant increase of traffic in other areas of the city like 10th & Pine (+27%) and 11th & Washington (+29%).
The American Community Survey census data revealed elevated levels of cycling in the city as well, matching the previous year’s count data.
A larger Census geography known as Public Use Microdata Areas (PUMAs) is ideal for looking at transportation trends at the urban neighborhood level, and identified parts of Philadelphia as having some of the highest rates of bicycle commuters across the whole country, measuring at 8.4% (South and Lower South Philadelphia City) and 5.7% (Central Philadelphia City). Along with the PUMA data, Philadelphia County still holds the highest percentage of bike commuters among the 10 most populated cities in the United States at 2.3% according to ACS 1 year estimates.
Indego
Ridership with Indego bikes is also on the rise. E-Bikes now account for just over half of the trips taken and for the first time 1 million total trips. If Indego was classified as a public transportation agency it would be the 6th busiest transit system in the State of Pennsylvania. Along with adding new stations and more bikes, Indego is in the process of trialing the 365+ pass which would allow for two 30-minute e-bike trips per day as well as unlimited 60-minute classic bike rides. The new program hopes to eliminate various barriers to accessing the growing number of E-Bikes in Indego’s fleet and address other transportation needs among Indego riders.
Infrastructure
Throughout the last year, Philadelphia has also improved infrastructure around the city, spurring higher bicycle traffic rates. The protected bike lane projects on Market, Walnut and Chestnut Streets and Washington Avenue have significantly decreased crashes and attracted more cyclists because of safer and more robust infrastructure.
Conclusion
It is encouraging to see the success of new infrastructure, expansion of Indego bike share, and Philadelphia’s standing on the national scale. Though these are things to celebrate, the need for more and improved infrastructure and policy will help all who use multimodal transportation and secure the greater Philadelphia region as a place where everyone feels safe and confident traveling and exploring this great area.
The Bicycle Coalition would not be able to do this work without our volunteers and we extend our sincere thanks to those who counted this year.
You can view the entire report Storymap here. For more details at each intersection, you can download the dataset here.