As old as it is true, the statement “It doesn’t count unless it’s counted” can still vex planners and advocates wanting to make the case that active transportation programs and investments in their communities are effective. Krista Nordback will explain how jurisdictions can create robust bicycle and pedestrian count programs based on new guidance from the Federal Highway Administration’s Traffic Monitoring Guide. Roger Geller will then briefly describe his city’s longtime bicycle counting program that has relied on the organized efforts of many volunteers – and, more importantly, how Portland has been able to use that data to illustrate the effectiveness of bicycling, demonstrate its increasing safety, and provide usable data to traffic engineers when designing intersections.

1. Bike to Work Day: Increasing
Cycling and Reducing Driving
Krista Nordback, P.E., Ph.D.
Oregon Transportation Research and Education Consortium
(OTREC)
503-725-2897
nordback@pdx.edu
Oregon Active Transportation Summit
Monday, April 21, 2014
SOURCE: Community Cycles

2. Overview
• Introduction
• Data & Methods
• Results
• Conclusions

3. SOURCE: DRCOG

4. SOURCE: Community Cycles

5. More Cyclists!
SOURCE: Community Cycles
SOURCE: Community Cycles

6. Fewer Cars?

7. Data

8. BICYCLE DATA

9. Automated Continuous
Bicycle Counters
25 stations
• 3 on-street
since 2010
• 22 on paths
since 1999
BOULDER COLORADO

11. Inductive loop counters on-street

12. Inductive loop counters on-street

13. 0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
450
2-Jun 12-Jun 22-Jun 2-Jul 12-Jul 22-Jul 1-Aug 11-Aug
DailyBicycleCount June and July 2008
Bike to Work Day June 25, 2008

14. 0
200
400
600
800
1,000
1,200
1,400
1,600
AverageDailyBicyclists
Bicycle Count Station
2005
Bike to Work Day
Wednesday

15. Bike To Work Day Doubles Counts
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
1600
2005 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
DailyBicycleCount
Year
Bike to Work Day
Average Wednesday in
June and July

16. MOTOR VEHICLE DATA

17. Motor Vehicle Counters
Inductive Loops
Photo Red-light Camera
Camera
SOURCE: Metro Count

18. Motor
Vehicle
Counters

19. Motor Vehicle Count Stations
• 5 Stations
• 5 Years
Number of Stations
By Year
2005 2
2007 2
2008 5
2009 4
2010 3
Total Cases 16

20. Motor Vehicle Counts
(June and July)
26,612 26,839
0
5,000
10,000
15,000
20,000
25,000
30,000
35,000
AverageDailyTraffic
Bike to Work Day
Average Wednesday

21. 0
5,000
10,000
15,000
20,000
25,000
30,000
6/1 6/11 6/21 7/1 7/11 7/21 7/31
DailyMotorVehicleCount
onCanyonat28th

22. 0
5,000
10,000
15,000
20,000
25,000
30,000
6/1 6/11 6/21 7/1 7/11 7/21 7/31
DailyMotorVehicleCount
onCanyonat28th
Bike to Work Day, Wednesday, June 25, 2008

23. Reality Check
• 500 additional bike counts on Bike to Work Day
• Average about 27,000 motorists/day on typical
summer Wednesdays
500/27,000 = 2% drop in counts
Can we find a 2% change in motor traffic volumes?

24. Methods
• Test each of the 16 cases as pairs:
– Bike to Work Day count
– Average of all other Wednesdays in June and July
• Paired Student T-Test:
Is there evidence of lower motor
traffic on Bike to Work Day than on
the average summer Wednesday?

25. Results

26. 0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
NumberofInstances
Difference in motor traffic between average
Wednesdays in June and July and Bike to Work Day

27. Difference between Wednesdays and
Bike to Work Day
Station 2005 2007 2008 2009 2010
Southbound 28th Street at
Canyon Blvd. -0.42% -2.06% -1.20%
Northbound 28th Street at
Canyon Blvd. -2.64% -1.71% -2.74%
Southbound 28th Street at
Arapahoe -0.05% -1.77% -0.16%
Westbound US 36 at McCaslin
in Superior -1.38% 0.80% -2.07% -1.29%
Eastbound US 36 at McCaslin
in Superior -0.27% 1.59% -1.58%
Significant decrease on Bike to Work Day at 80% confidence level

28. Results of Paired T-test
For the 16 test pairs (one-tailed test):
– P-value: 0.016
– There is evidence at the 95% confidence level that
Bike to Work Day motorized traffic is lower.

29. Evidence of Reduced Traffic on
Bike to Work Day
• 5 of the 16 cases show a significant drop in
motor traffic at the 80% confidence level.
• 14 of the 16 cases show a decrease in traffic.
• 1% drop in traffic on average across all 16
cases.
• Paired t-test: Bike to Work Day is lower than
Wednesdays with 95% confidence.

30. Conclusions

31. Conclusions
• About twice as many cyclists on Bike to Work
Day in Boulder
• There is evidence of lower motor traffic
volumes on Bike to Work Day in Boulder.

32. Questions?
Krista Nordback, P.E., Ph.D.
Oregon Transportation Research and Education Consortium
(OTREC)
503-725-2897
nordback@pdx.edu
SOURCE: Denver Regional Council of Governments (DRCOG)

33. Limitations
• Boulder specific.
• Photo red-light camera counts have not been
validated.
• Two of the motor vehicle locations are outside
of the city.

35. 2010 Boulder Bicyclist Patterns
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
120%
140%
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
PercentofAverageAnnual
DailyBicyclists
Arap38th
Arapahoe2
BdwyNside
BdwySside
BldrCrkEside
BldrCrkEside2
BldrCrkWside
BldrCrkWside2
Brdwy
Centennial
Foothills
Foothills2
Skunk
ToArap