If you tool around Worcester on a bike at all, you’ve probably noticed that the city is making an effort, but we’ve got a long way to go before we become a truly bikeable city. The truth is, for such a small (area-wise, at least) city, it can be remarkably hard to get around unless you own a car, and navigating the city on two wheels can be downright treacherous. While this is sad news for Worcester area bikers, it’s even sadder news for Worcester small business owners, drivers and pedestrians. Check out what we found when we started exploring the benefits of making Worcester a truly bikeable city.
- People who bike spend more money in local stores.
- Multiple studies have found that cyclists, on average, spend as much as or more than consumers who arrive by other modes of transportation. This holds true for convenience stores, mom-and-pop stores, restaurants, retail stores and drinking establishments. The only place it doesn’t play out is at supermarkets, where those who come by car regularly outspend all other consumers. Reference: Consumer Behavior and Travel Mode Sources
Pizza shops, small restaurants and drinking establishments often see a boost in revenues after bike lanes and bike racks are installed. Photo Credit: Meaghan Hardy-Lavoie
- Multiple studies have found that cyclists, on average, spend as much as or more than consumers who arrive by other modes of transportation. This holds true for convenience stores, mom-and-pop stores, restaurants, retail stores and drinking establishments. The only place it doesn’t play out is at supermarkets, where those who come by car regularly outspend all other consumers. Reference: Consumer Behavior and Travel Mode Sources
- Including protected bike lanes in street planning decreases commercial vacancy rates.
- After New York City redesigned streets around Union Square to include protected bike lanes, the commercial vacancy rate dropped 49%, in contrast to a decrease of only 5% in other parts of Manhattan. Reference: Measuring the Street
- Providing better bike and pedestrian access boosts the rental value of commercial properties.
- In NYC Times Square, commercial rents increased 71% along streets with protected bike lanes and bike parking. That may sound like bad news for small business owners, but it went hand-in-hand with increases in consumer spending and retail sales, making it a win-win-win. Property owners get higher rents because the value of the property as a retail space increases when it becomes more accessible to more people. Reference: Measuring the Street
- Increasing bike access reduces traffic congestion while increasing street level foot traffic.
- Studies in cities across the country have shown that reconfiguring streets to add a protected bike lane actually reduces traffic congestion. This is counter to conventional traffic engineering wisdom, which logically contends that more room for bikes means less room for cars. In practice, however, cities as different as NYC, Milwaukee and Chicago all found that traffic travel time either stayed about the same or was significantly reduced after they added protected bike lanes. Reference: Mother Jones – When Adding Bike Lanes Actually Reduces Traffic Delays
- Protected bike lanes in commercial districts (along with associated infrastructure, such as bike corrals and bike racks) boosts retail performance.
Bike corrals, like this one at Union Station, take up less space than 2 parking spots, but can accommodate up to 20 bikes. Photo credit: Meaghan Hardy-Lavoie - The NYC report notes that retail sales increased by 45% in areas that got a new bike lane, but only 3% in similar areas without a bike lane. In Seattle, which added bike lanes to several streets between 2008 and 2012, surveys found that retail performance in neighborhood business districts either remained about the same or increased substantially after the bike lanes were installed. Reference: Bikenomics – Measuring the Economic Impact of Bicycle Facilities on Neighborhood Business Districts
- Health-conscious consumers are more likely to patronize restaurants and businesses that are bike-friendly.
- A Vancouver business owner who was originally concerned about a new bike lane in front of his store thought his fears had been realized when he saw a 30% drop in business in the first seven weeks post-installation. When business rebounded and his sales skyrocketed – mostly due to new customers taking advantage of the bike lane – he changed his tune. “We definitely have benefited from the increased usage of the bike lane,” he told Business in Vancouver. His experience is similar to that experienced by other small business owners in cities around the country. Bicyclists, often in the coveted 18-34-year-old demographic, are passionate about supporting businesses that make their lives easier. Reference: Business in Vancouver: Bikes good for business, group says
As home to so many institutes of higher learning, Worcester would benefit greatly from providing better bike infrastructure, including protected bike lanes, bike racks, bike corrals and hitching posts. Photo credit: Meaghan Hardy-Lavoie
- A Vancouver business owner who was originally concerned about a new bike lane in front of his store thought his fears had been realized when he saw a 30% drop in business in the first seven weeks post-installation. When business rebounded and his sales skyrocketed – mostly due to new customers taking advantage of the bike lane – he changed his tune. “We definitely have benefited from the increased usage of the bike lane,” he told Business in Vancouver. His experience is similar to that experienced by other small business owners in cities around the country. Bicyclists, often in the coveted 18-34-year-old demographic, are passionate about supporting businesses that make their lives easier. Reference: Business in Vancouver: Bikes good for business, group says
- Protected bike lanes make the streets safer for everyone.
- It’s not just cyclists who benefit from protected bike lanes. Studies in multiple cities have seen traffic accidents and pedestrian injuries drop when they provide dedicated bike lanes for bicyclists. In Washington D.C., one of the first cities to start adding buffered bike lanes, the number of bikes on sidewalks decreased immediately by an average of 54%, and when Chicago added a protected bike lane and bike-specific street signals to a busy intersection, cyclist compliance with stop signals skyrocketed from 31% to 81%. And New York City planners found that when protected bike lances are installed, injury rates for cyclists, pedestrians and drivers typically fall by about 40%. Reference: People for Bikes – Statistics Archive; Memorandum on Bike Lanes, City of New York, Office of the Mayor, 21 March 2011
- Protected bike lanes reduce cyclist injuries by as much as 90%.
- A 2012 Canadian study found that almost any kind of bike lane reduces the incidence of cyclist injuries, but the decrease depends a great deal on the type of bike lane provided. The group analyzed data from nearly 700 cyclists who were seen in emergency rooms in British Columbia for traffic-related injuries. The researchers round that bicyclists riding on roads with painted bike lanes were 50% less likely to be injured than those riding on roads with no bike infrastructure, while those riding in protected bike lanes separated from traffic were a whopping 90% less likely to get hurt. Reference: Streetsblog USA – Study: Protected Bike Lanes Reduce Injury Risk by Up to 90 Percent
The WRTA provides bike racks for riders on the front of most buses, making it easier for cyclists to take advantage of public transport when necessary. Photo credit: Meaghan Hardy-Lavoie
- A 2012 Canadian study found that almost any kind of bike lane reduces the incidence of cyclist injuries, but the decrease depends a great deal on the type of bike lane provided. The group analyzed data from nearly 700 cyclists who were seen in emergency rooms in British Columbia for traffic-related injuries. The researchers round that bicyclists riding on roads with painted bike lanes were 50% less likely to be injured than those riding on roads with no bike infrastructure, while those riding in protected bike lanes separated from traffic were a whopping 90% less likely to get hurt. Reference: Streetsblog USA – Study: Protected Bike Lanes Reduce Injury Risk by Up to 90 Percent
- Providing bike infrastructure, including bike lanes, bike trails and dedicated bike parking encourages residents to ride their bikes more.
- In city after city, bicycling rates rose – often astronomically – after the addition of bike lanes and other bike infrastructure. In DC, bike traffic in protected bike lanes has been growing seven times faster than the citywide rate. In Seville, bike use jumped for .6 percent to 7 percent in just six years – a tenfold increase. In NYC and DC, bike commuting doubled between 2008 and 2013. And these aren’t anomalies. According to the National Institute of Transportation and Communities, the average protected bike lane sees bike counts (the number of trips taken on the lane) increase by 75 percent in its first year. Reference: Lessons from the Green Lanes (National Institute for Transportation and Communities)
- People like bike paths – and want more of them.
- Worcester city planners and business owners often ask – almost despairingly – what they can do to encourage college graduates to stay in Worcester after they finish school. One of the most important things they can do is make the city a place where more people want to live – and providing good pedestrian and bike infrastructure is a key part of the equation. Studies show that people who live near bike lanes are happy with them, and strongly support adding more of them in other areas. The sentiment is especially strong among the 18-34-year-old demographic that Worcester most wants to attract. In that age group, 85 percent would recommend them in other places. For 18-24-year-olds, that shoots up to 95 percent.
Building better infrastructure for pedestrians and bicyclists are among our top legislative priorities for many of these reasons. We actively advocated for the passage of the Complete Streets Certification Program, and now that it’s law, are actively advocating its full funding and implementation. The more accessible and safe our streets are, the healthier and more sustainable we’ll be as a community.
