01588678

Component

Transportation managers are grappling with the challenge of implementing performance management systems for all modes of transportation, including bicycling. Comprehensive measures of the magnitude of bicycling for states, regions, or municipalities do not exist. Development of performance measures for bicycling is especially challenging because bicycle traffic historically has not been monitored and, except for the journey-to-work question asked by the U.S. Bureau of the Census, surveys about bicycling have not been administered consistently over time. This paper presents two sketch plan methods for estimating the number of bicycle trips and miles traveled in the state of Minnesota. One approach involves use of results from a decennial travel behavior inventory administered by the Metropolitan Council to adjust and extrapolate estimates from the Census journey-to-work question statewide. This approach indicates Minnesotans take between 85 and 96 million bicycle trips annually. This estimate is likely low because it does not include all recreational trips taken on weekends. The miles traveled measure estimated with this approach (between 165 and 198 million miles) also is believed to be low. The second approach involves extrapolation from a randomized population survey administered annually by the Minnesota Department of Transportation. This approach indicates Minnesotans take approximately 75.2 million bicycle trips annually. The miles traveled estimate based on this approach is 139 million miles. Both approaches have limitations but can be replicated over time to provide information about trends. Additional research and experimentation is needed to develop valid, reliable measures of the magnitude of bicycling, especially at the state level.

This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ANF20 Standing Committee on Bicycle Transportation.

01584066

16-4244

English

15p

2016

Transportation Research Board 95th Annual Meeting

Digital/other

Maps; References; Tables

Bicycling; Commuting; Data collection; Performance measurement; Vehicle miles of travel

Minnesota Department of Transportation

Minnesota

Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Planning and Forecasting; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2016 Paper #16-4244

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Jan 12 2016 5:52PM