A Golden Opportunity For Cities To Invest In Cycling

You’ve almost certainly seen it in your neighborhood. Just as the first few warm days of spring broke and the rain cleared, individuals and families rolled up their garage doors and pulled down bicycles you’ve never seen before. 

The current lockdown has made avid walkers, runners, and cyclists out of heretofore sedentary people. The running joke that even the family dog is tired of being taken around the block and hits April looking more fit and trim than ever. It’s easy to understand the motivation, with folks simply finding any good reason to stick their heads outside and to have a poke around the neighborhood. 

Time will tell if these new habits will stick, but with the lockdown now extended to May in most states and expected to last through that month as well, there is plenty of time for those healthy, active habits to become entrenched in daily life. The motivation may be different in various parts of the world and country, but the trend is similar. In New York City, for example, cycling traffic rose 52% on the East River Bridge last month. Over in Scotland, the number of cycling trips more than doubled, while some communities’ automatic counters saw an over 200% increase since the UK’s lockdown guidelines took effect. 

Those are trends that won’t end any time soon. Businesses in Michigan could be shut for another full month, and even then, don’t expect any sort of floodgates to open. Non-essential businesses and workers will rejoin the daily commute slowly, and many will see reduced working hours or face job loss. Additionally, public transport options may seem less safe as an option, with fears of lingering virus threats still in mind. The timing is important, too; with summer now just around the corner, midwest cities will see more and more people choose the bicycle as a viable option, furthering those commuting habits. 

All of this makes for a golden opportunity for cities and states to watch, learn, and react to new patterns of transportation. Using Strava, automatic traffic counters, and other tools to measure and evaluate cyclists’ routes and habits can inform the next wave of safe, human-friendly non-motorized infrastructure that could reshape cities for decades to come. 

That investment could be hard to come by. Record-breaking unemployment means budget shortfalls in the years ahead, and dollars will be dearly won for projects that make cities safer. That makes projects already on the agenda even more important and demands to increase the focus on cycling and walking are vital in getting things done that maintain the current momentum. 

Have you noticed more people walking and riding? How has the current situation changed your transportation habits?