The link between low-stress bicycle facilities and bicycle commuting

Existing research links standard bicycle lanes with increased levels of bicyclist commuting. Here we question how newer facility types fare relative to standard bicycle lanes. Using 6 years of longitudinal data across 14,011 block groups in 28 US cities, we find that block groups that installed protected bicycle lanes experienced bicycle commuter increases 1.8 times larger than standard bicycle lane block groups, 1.6 times larger than shared-lane marking block groups and 4.3 times larger than block groups that did not install bicycle facilities. Focusing on mileage, protected bicycle lane mileage installed was significantly associated with bicycle commuter increases 52.5% stronger than standard bicycle lane mileage and 281.2% stronger than shared-lane marking mileage. The results suggest that lower-stress bicycle facilities—such as protected bicycle lanes—are significantly associated with larger increases in ridership at the block-group level compared with higher-stress facilities such as standard bicycle lanes and shared-lane markings. Bicycling offers a range of benefits for urban commuters, but the facilities that best facilitate bicycle lane use are still unclear. Using data from 28 US cities, this study found that bicycle lanes and similar low-stress facilities increase ridership markedly.