ats14- creating and using good counting information- krista nordback 2

Bike to Work Day: Increasing Cycling and Reducing Driving

Krista Nordback, P.E., Ph.D.Oregon Transportation Research and Education Consortium (OTREC)

503-725-2897nordback@pdx.edu

Oregon Active Transportation SummitMonday, April 21, 2014

SOURCE: Community Cycles

Overview

• Introduction• Data & Methods• Results• Conclusions

SOURCE: DRCOG

SOURCE: Community Cycles

More Cyclists!

SOURCE: Community Cycles

SOURCE: Community Cycles

Fewer Cars?

Data

BICYCLE DATA

Automated ContinuousBicycle Counters

25 stations

• 3 on-street since 2010

• 22 on paths since 1999

BOULDER COLORADO

Inductive loop counters on-street

Inductive loop counters on-street

2-Jun 12-Jun 22-Jun 2-Jul 12-Jul 22-Jul 1-Aug 11-Aug0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

June and July 2008D

aily

Bic

ycle

Cou

nt

Bike to Work Day June 25, 2008

Arap38th

Arapah

oe1

Centennial

Footh

ills

Footh

ills1

FthlsN

ECor

FthlsS

ECor

PrlPkw

ySECor

PrlPkw

ySW

Cor0

200400600800

1,0001,2001,4001,600

2005

Bike to Work DayWednesday

Bicycle Count Station

Ave

rage

Dai

ly B

icyc

lists

Bike To Work Day Doubles Counts

2005 2007 2008 2009 2010 20110

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1600

Bike to Work DayAverage Wednesday in June and July

Year

Dai

ly B

icyc

le C

ount

MOTOR VEHICLE DATA

Motor Vehicle CountersInductive Loops

Photo Red-light Camera

Camera

SOURCE: Metro Count

Motor Vehicle

Counters

Motor Vehicle Count Stations

• 5 Stations• 5 Years

Number of Stations By Year

2005 22007 22008 52009 42010 3

Total Cases 16

Motor Vehicle Counts(June and July)

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

Bike to Work DayAverage Wednesday

Aver

age

Dai

ly T

raffi

c

6/1 6/11 6/21 7/1 7/11 7/21 7/310

5,000

10,000

15,000

20,000

25,000

30,000D

aily

Mot

or V

ehic

le C

ount

on

Can

yon

at 2

8th

6/1 6/11 6/21 7/1 7/11 7/21 7/310

5,000

10,000

15,000

20,000

25,000

30,000D

aily

Mot

or V

ehic

le C

ount

on

Can

yon

at 2

8th

Bike to Work Day, Wednesday, June 25, 2008

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?

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?

Results

< -1000

-1000 to -750

-750 to -500

-500 to -250

-250 to 0

0 to 250

250 to 500

>500

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Difference in motor traffic between average Wednesdays in June and July and Bike to Work Day

Num

ber o

f Ins

tanc

es

Difference between Wednesdays and Bike to Work Day

Station 2005 2007 2008 2009 2010Southbound 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

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.

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.

Conclusions

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.

Questions?

Krista Nordback, P.E., Ph.D.Oregon Transportation Research and Education Consortium (OTREC)

503-725-2897nordback@pdx.edu

SOURCE: Denver Regional Council of Governments (DRCOG)

Limitations

• Boulder specific.• Photo red-light camera counts have not been

validated.• Two of the motor vehicle locations are outside

of the city.

2010 Boulder Bicyclist Patterns

Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesd

ay

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

0%20%40%60%80%

100%120%140% Arap38th

Arapahoe2BdwyNsideBdwySsideBldrCrkEsideBldrCrkEside2BldrCrkWsideBldrCrkWside2BrdwyCentennialFoothillsFoothills2SkunkToArap

Perc

ent o

f Ave

rage

An

nual

Dai

ly B

icyc

lists