Bike PHL Facts: We are a City Filled with Law-abiding Bikers

Bikes, babes & ‘biding citizens. We’re filled with ’em.

The Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia released a report today using 9 years of beautiful biking data. We’ve been #1 for bike commuting for a while now and continue to dominate the scene.

2014 Bike PHL Facts

For example, our city-wide bike gang grew 260% between 2005-2013. We have 2 of the top 25 neighborhoods nationwide for bike commuting (props to South Philly & Center City). And more ammo for more bike lanes: We see way more bike helmet use and less salmons/sidewalk riders on streets with bike lanes. (BTW – Salmons are the WORST.)

Want to impress the ladies, Philly? Our city’s improved bike infrastructure is like a chick magnet, as women prefer them over the bad-ass street boys without a lane.

6 Top-Level Facts from the report:

• Philadelphia remains the top big American city for bicycle commuting;
• Between 2005 and 2013, bicycle commuting across the Schuylkill River rose 260%;
• The South Street Bridge carries 44% of all bicycle traffic across the Schuylkill;
• South Philly and Center City are top-25 neighborhoods for bike commuting in the country;
• Since 2009, the neighborhoods with the largest growth in bicycle commuting are Southwest Philadelphia, Brewerytown/Temple University area, and Fishtown/Kensington;
• Buffered bicycle lanes attract more bicyclists, more female bicyclists, and more law-abiding bicyclists than streets with regular or no bike lanes.

Don’t pee your bike shorts with excitement just yet: We’re only #11 as far as percentage of population bike commuting at a little over 5%, after Portland (10%), Madison, Boulder & others.

Find the full Bicycle Coalition report filled of pretty graphics & stats here.