Arlington, Va., celebrated National Bike to Work day, May 15, 2015. Californians are the most likely to take their bike to work. According to Census data and RedFin research, Western cities are more likely to have bike lanes in the streets and four California cities were listed in the top 10 “Most Bikeable” cities in the U.S. Davis, Berkeley, Santa Cruz, and Santa Monica were all in the top six. Two Colorado cities, Boulder (4) and Fort Collins (8), also made the list. Cambridge, Mass. got the top ranking (this writer’s favorite place to bike), Rounding it out were Minneapolis (7), State College, Penn. (9), and Iowa City, (10).
The Northeast leads the country in public transportation use and expense, even though it has half the households as the South, while folks out West prefer walking and biking to work. The information shows that Southerners use their own transportation to go to work and the grocery store, as well as having fewer options for getting there.
Some interesting tidbits from the Census’ 2013 American Housing Survey include:
- 9 percent of Southerners use public transportation—but public transportation costs half of what it costs Northerners.
- 76 percent of households in the West ride the bus. About half of them ride the bus once a week.
- Accessibility is an issue in the South. There are fewer sidewalks, less lighting, fewer bike lanes, and fewer grocery stores accessible by biking or walking.
[Source: U.S. Census Bureau]
