BOULDER, Colo. (BRAIN) — A new study commissioned by PeopleForBikes has found that roughly one in three Americans rode a bike at least once in the past year — a significantly higher rate of participation than previous research from other sources has shown.
“Existing regular studies on bicycling participation have been limited to either recreational riding or transportation riding of certain types. The new participation research is designed to address these limitations by measuring bicycling of any kind, by any type of rider. In addition to measuring participation, the report examines Americans’ bicycling perceptions and barriers,” PeopleForBikes stated in a release.
Key results from the report include:
- Thirty-four percent of Americans ages 3 and older rode a bicycle at least one day in the past year.
- Of those who rode a bicycle, many do so infrequently: 30 percent rode five days or fewer.
- Those who rode for transportation are much more likely to have done so to get to and from social, recreation or leisure activities (70 percent) than to have commuted to and from work or school (46 percent).
- Forty-eight percent of adults in the U.S. don’t have access to an operational bicycle at home.
- Fifty-four percent of adults in the U.S. perceive bicycling as a convenient way to get from one place to another, and 53 percent would like to ride more often. However, 52 percent worry about being hit by a car and 46 percent say they would be more likely to ride a bicycle if motor vehicles and bicycles were physically separated.
The study was conducted by Jennifer Boldry, principal of Breakaway Research Group, an independent research firm with expertise in consumer insights and active outdoor industry trends. A total of 16,193 completed interviews were collected from adults 18 and older who reported on a total of 8,858 children ages 3 to 17. This sample provides an overall margin of error +/- less than 1 percent at a 95 percent level of confidence.
PeopleForBikes intends to repeat the study at least every three years to observe long-term trends in U.S. bicycling participation. The advocacy group will also present details of the report this April at the Bicycle Leadership Conference in Monterey, Calif.
For a more detailed look at the study, including industry perspective on the findings’ potential impact, see the March 1 print edition of Bicycle Retailer and Industry News.
To view the report, visit PeopleForBikes.org/participation.
