Strava Makes Their Metro Data Free To Cities

We’ve mentioned Strava’s impressive mountain of cycling data before, but there’s an encouraging update. As of this week, Strava is making Strava Metro data free to all cities that plan to use it to improve cycling infrastructure. 

It’s incredibly good timing. Over the past several months, cycling has seen a boom around the world, and the United States is no exception. According to data from Strava, more and more people are using their bikes to get around town, run errands, pick up groceries, and replace fossil fuel-based transportation. 

That’s a trend that has reached some unpredictable, and unlikely, places. The metropolis, motor-centric cities of Houston and Los Angeles, are some examples. Before the pandemic, just .5% and 1% of citizens used bikes for transportation in these massive cities. Since the pandemic, the numbers have exploded, Houston saw a 138% jump in cycling traffic in May 2020 as compared to May 2019. Los Angeles wasn’t far behind at 93%. Cities like New York and Chicago both saw increases, too, with 80% and 34%, respectively. 

Even as cities reopen for business and students return to school across the country, non-motorized transportation has remained strong. Cycling advocates are now shifting the focus from shutdown-friendly measures like safe streets and pop-up bike lanes to long term viability for cycling to reduce traffic, air pollution, and enrich communities. 

Having information and insight from a platform like Strava Metro will give cities an opportunity to study how their residents actually ride and to invest in the infrastructure needed to keep the momentum going. With free access, cities will be able to track popular routes and destinations, seasonal trends, and demographic information that can help to identify potential shortcomings or opportunities. In a sense, the platform offers planners the ability to gather information everywhere, rather than relying solely on traffic counters that used to track non-motorized traffic on bike paths, footpaths, and non-motorized trails. 

As much of the United States heads into autumn and winter, planners will have important data to track seasonal changes in cycling that often cause increases of motorized traffic and a renewed strain on public transportation like buses and subways. The cold weather is one deterrent, but there’s also ample evidence that bike commuters also have issues due to a lack of snow removal on bike paths and in bike lanes. One opportunity for, say, Michigan cities with Strava Metro would be to identify the most popular routes for commuting and focus snow removal efforts along those routes. 

For more on the Strava Metro platform and announcement, head here. Have you ridden more since the pandemic began? Let us know in the comments!