2011 Mileage count survey

nearly 169,000 miles between 39 folks! keep the numbers coming!

I put mine in. I had to guess big time. I hope I didn’t throw anything off — midway I accidentally hit Enter, which took me to the confirmation page. So americancylco, please disregard my first, incomplete entry.

Thanks for compiling!

G

How many angels can ride on the head of a pin?

47 responders, 191,000 miles. can we get to 200,000?

@SilverSpring 12659 wrote:

“No number is too small”

I think this is really important, because the policy and political types at Arlington County and the region need to see cyclists as more than just the hard-core riders. While 47 riders and 191K miles is impressive, I think the more compelling number would be 1200 riders with 300K miles. That says that cycling is more than a small group thing and is widely used for recreation, daily transportation, and commuting.

The form allows non forum members to respond. Please encourage others you know to participate. Please invite your friends who may cycle less frequently to participate. Please copy the following text and send it to your friends, neighbors, and loved ones who ride to encourage them to participate.

The members of Bike Arlington and Washington Area Bicyclist Association are conducting an informal survey of bike riding and bike commuting in 2011. The data will be used to demonstrate cycling is a viable and important transportation option in the region. Even though you may not be a daily cyclist, your data in the survey will help show how large the community of riders is in the area. You don’t have to live in Arlington to participate in the survey. Please accept my invitation to participate in this survey. You can submit your information anonymously if you would like.

To participate, please go to http://goo.gl/hpK3o. The following info is requested:

1) Total miles ridden for the year (excluding indoor cycling on stationary bikes and trainers). Your best estimate is fine. Please combine commuting and recreational miles ridden anywhere (not just the DC metro area). Include Capital Bikeshare miles, bike rentals, etc.

2) Total trips (your best estimate is fine). Please combine commuting and recreational trips. A commute (two ways ) counts as two trips.

3) Whether you are male or female (optional). Researchers always say women’s participation is an indicator of whether cycling is taking off in an area (due to perceived safety issues) so that is why I think this would be an interesting statistic to collect.

4) If you bike commute, the jurisdictions you travel between.

5) If you want your data to remain anonymous.

@vvill 12679 wrote:

I feel like this should read as “A return commute counts as two trips.” I’ve done one-way commutes before, and I know a colleague who brings the bike in his car, and then rides home (his girlfriend has longer hours so she drives back later).

dbb’s text may come from earlier in the thread

That question on the form reads:

Total Number of Trips by Bicycle (count a round trip commute as two trips)

My first thought was to click the like button on this post and leave it at that but it occurs to me that perhaps more is needed. We here on the forum are on the head of the pin. I often ride downtown during the business day ( I have a very odd schedule ) and see legions of 20 & 30 somethings rolling around on CABIs and personal bikes – with women seemingly in numbers close to those of men. It seems unlikely that the bulk of those people are WABA members let alone forum readers. They probably are readers of general interest urban culture blogs though. At age sixty I’m a bit out of the loop on exactly what those blogs are but I’m sure that there are people here a bit more tuned in and perhaps a message to the writers of those blogs with the suggested notice about the poll would be a good direction as well.

@dbb 12663 wrote:

I think this is really important, because the policy and political types at Arlington County and the region need to see cyclists as more than just the hard-core riders. While 47 riders and 191K miles is impressive, I think the more compelling number would be 1200 riders with 300K miles. That says that cycling is more than a small group thing and is widely used for recreation, daily transportation, and commuting.

snip …