COVID-19 is Unleashing the Bicycle Revolution

Lockdowns and stay at home orders from Chicago to London to Beijing have resulted in fewer cars on roads and reduced public transit ridership. The nosedive in daily commuters has transformed large swaths of cities around the world into a sea of deserted asphalt in the middle of the day. For those who did venture out, many opted for a form of transit most of us learned to use as children — bicycles.

According to Statista in 2016, only 12% of Americans reported they rode bikes regularly as a means of transportation and a form of exercise. Americans were twice as likely to jog or run habitually than ride a bike Comparatively, in Denmark 90% of the public own a bicycle and use it frequently, and in the Netherlands 25% of all transportation is via bicycle. However, the pandemic has shifted habits and routines in a variety of ways, including how we commute. These shifts are not only happening in bike friendly communities but are also happening in cities not known for having cycling friendly infrastructure such as New York, Los Angeles, and even Las Vegas.

 

Eco-Counter — a Montreal engineering company that measures pedestrian traffic — measured a 21% increase in U.S. urban ridership compared to 2019. In New York City, the bike-share service Citi Bike saw a dramatic ridership increase of 67% at the beginning of March which has continued through June, the latest data available. Counters on bridges in New York City measured increases in bicycle crossings at the start of the pandemic before stay at home orders were issued. Rails-to-Trails reported a 110% increase over 2019 in ridership on rail-trails such as sections of the Great American Rail Trail that connects Washington, D.C. to Seattle.

The upward trend is not just in cities with robust ridership like New York, but also in car-dependent western cities like Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and Oakland where ridership and bicycle sales in the wake of coronavirus skyrocketed. Data provided by PeopleForBikes reported bicycle sales in the United States are up 65% this year over 2019. The Regional Transit Commission of Southern Nevada which oversees the bicycle rideshare program in downtown Las Vegas saw an 843% increase in bicycle rentals in May compared to the same time last year while the Las Vegas Strip was close.

Why

Ridership has increased among urban commuters for several reasons. For one, people feel safer on their bicycles than on public transit during the pandemic. Bikes are relatively safe when riders maintain 6 feet of distance from each other, and research suggests that Coronavirus transmission is far more difficult when people are in outdoor settings and moving at variable speeds. Cycling has been deemed so safe and economically necessary that the U.K. government included bicycle repair vouchers in their economic recovery plan. This is in spite of several studies showing that risk of transmission on public transit is still relatively low. Advocates of bike ridership say it is about feeling safe as much as it is about being safe.

What this means for cities

Cities have noticed the changes in their residents’ behaviors. With fewer pedestrians and cars on the road during government lockdowns, local authorities in New York, Milan, Paris, Mexico City, and even Bogota have been accelerating plans for new bicycle lanes — sometimes dubbed as “Corona-Lanes”. The lanes are meant to be temporary or “pop-up” to adjust for the significant change in urban commuter habits, but city planners and bicycle advocates are thinking longer term. Some dream of what they call the “15 minute city,” where everything from food and parks to schools are within a 15-minute walking distance. The current crisis has allowed city leaders to fast-track those plans.

But not all cities are seeing this trend as momentary. In Paris, the Mayor authorized permanent bike lanes over what are typically the busiest bus and metro commuter lines, such as the Rue de Rivoli which stretches east and west past the Louvre and Tuileries Gardens. On a weekday, a city counter on the Rue de Rivoli measured over 13,000 bicyclists or 1 every 6 seconds, double the rate from 9 months earlier. In Oakland, authorities are responding to these changes by reducing 10% of city roads to be car free. In New York, Mayor Blasio laid out plans to open 100 miles of new permanent space for pedestrians and cyclists — as of July, 75 miles have already been completed. In Montreal, the city is adding 70 miles of bicycle and pedestrian paths. Many of these new routes are in neighborhoods that were already popular routes for commuters prior to the pandemic.

Other concerns arise on questions of who actually stands to gain from more bicycle lanes. Adonia Lugo of Antioch University in Los Angeles notes that bicycle planning has historically been used as a form of gentrification for urban renewal projects. Research has shown that city planners in the United States think more about the needs of “urban bicycle hipsters” even though most cyclists come from less affluent communities, are diverse in race and culture, and many are recent immigrants to the United States.

One just has to look at where many of these new bicycle lanes are being built to find evidence of this criticism: in neighborhoods that were already popular routes for public transit by bus, subway, or light rail. According to a study by the American Public Transportation Association and the National Association of Realtors, public transit routes are correlated with higher residential property values and more affluent communities. Without proper public input, the additional bicycle lanes may be leaving behind key constituencies who would benefit from bicycle lanes but cannot afford to live in an existing public transit route.

Others question whether bicycle and pedestrian lanes are accessible for people with disabilities who ride non-traditional bicycles and need access to thoughtfully designed infrastructure. Emphasizing the need for a wide range of voices in community planning, civic organizations have voiced concerns that current planning initiatives sometimes lack diversity of race, gender, class, and physical ability.

Will it last?

While advocates insist that the ongoing pandemic will change commuters’ habits for the long term, others are more skeptical over whether these habits will persist. Part of the skepticism comes from the fact that planners are rushing new projects that normally take several years. In New York, residents in Central Park West sued the city last year over the construction of their new bicycle lanes. In addition, many of the lanes in New York are merely temporary barriers between bicyclists and cars, rather than permanent lanes with markings and long dividers. City planners worry that even if transportation habits shift from public transit and to bicycling, the demand for commuting by automobile will not alleviate, causing further congestion and competition for space on roads, especially as winter months drive commuters to reconsider their transit choices.

One thing is clear: whether the coronavirus has truly changed the habits of urban commuters or not, cities are pedaling forward.