It’s not just a hunch. There really is more spandex on the road.
And I’m not just talking about the recent Group Health STP (Seattle to Portland) Bicycle Classic, in which my husband was one of 10,000 cyclists. (I drove a car. I was very comfortable.)
Since 1999, bicycling has increased as a share of total trips by 44 percent, according to travel surveys kept by the Puget Sound Regional Council.
That’s a big number to illustrate what is really a very tiny number. Under 1.5 percent of all trips are by bike. If you were to look at a bar chart, you’d see a big fat skyscraper of autos and have to squint very hard to see those handlebars peek above ground zero.
The Europeans, who are enjoying the Tour de France, see a cycling rate of more than 7 percent — better even than our total use of transit (4 percent) — and many of them advocate for a 15 percent modal share by bicycle by 2020. So, yes, they are likely snickering at us right now.
But give the Puget Sound area credit, mes amis cyclistes. Cycling was at 1 percent here in 2006, and still lower in 1999.
The average trip by bicycle these days is 4 miles, the 2014 survey found. Most of the cycling is by men in the 25-34 age group.
The most stalwart bicycle commuters and exercise enthusiasts are, not surprisingly, in the Seattle area — South Lake Union, Capitol Hill, downtown. Credit goes to the Burke-Gilman Trail.
But Snohomish County has got the Centennial Trail, and we’re no slouches in the saddles either.
In Snohomish County, bikes made up 1.1 percent of commute trips in 2014, up from 0.6 percent in 2006.
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