Getting consistent data on infrastructure for people biking and walking is difficult. There are often no statewide reporting requirements and there are no federal reporting requirements, so each city maintains its own data in its own manner. For an exploration of how cities maintain bicycle network data, please see our report Benchmarking Bike Networks.
Data on this page:
Bike Sharing
The Benchmarking Report began reporting on bikeshare systems in the 2012 edition. In 2012, there were 5 large cities reporting that they had a bikeshare system. Since then, bikeshare systems have rapidly expanded.
The expansion of bikeshare led to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics tracking bikeshare systems in 2015 and their dataset now includes dockless bikeshare, docked bikeshare, and scooter share systems. In 2021, scooter share systems are the most common with 110 communities reporting the existence of scooter share.
Footnote 91
In 2014, the North American Bikeshare Association (NABSA) was incorporated and it hired its first Executive Director in 2017. NABSA currently has over 70 members, including members outside of North America. According to NABSA, there were over 50,000 bikeshare bikes in the United States in 2016 and 28 million trips were taken on bike share bikes in 2016. 93
Reported Bicycle & Pedestrian Infrastructure
Footnote 94
Legend: Green =5 highest values; Red = 5 lowest values
Bicycle and Pedestrian infrastructure are very important to the safety and comfort of people who bike and walk but has been difficult to track over time in the Benchmarking Report. Cities can and do have different ways of tracking infrastructure data, and over time the Benchmarking Report data has also reflected those differences. One source of inconsistency is whether miles of infrastructure are reported as lane miles (meaning a street with sidewalks on both sides would count for twice the length of the street) or centerline miles (meaning a street with sidewalks on both sides would only count for the length of the street).
Pedestrian infrastructure, in the form of sidewalks, was significantly less reported than bicycle infrastructure. Miles of sidewalks was not reported in nearly half of large cities (23 out of 50) and about a third of the other cities reviewed for the Benchmarking Report (6 out of 19). Where it was reported, it was often much more common on an absolute and per square mile basis than bicycle infrastructure.
The League of American Bicyclists. Bicycle Friendly Community Survey data from question B21 and alternate minimum survey questions 19 and 20. Alliance for Biking and Walking. Bicycling and Walking in the United States: 2016 Benchmarking Report. Available at https://bikeleague.org/sites/default/ files/2016BenchmarkingReport_web.pdf. The most recent year reported to either survey was used for this chart and is identified in the Appendix for each city. If survey data did not provide system name, then system name was obtained from public website listed in Appendix.
The League of American Bicyclists. Bicycle Friendly Community Survey data from question B21 and alternate minimum survey questions 19 and 20. Alliance for Biking and Walking. Bicycling and Walking in the United States: 2016 Benchmarking Report. Available at https://bikeleague.org/sites/default/ files/2016BenchmarkingReport_web.pdf. The most recent year reported to either survey was used for this chart and is identified in the Appendix for each city. If survey data did not provide system name, then system name was obtained from public website listed in Appendix.
North American Bikeshare Association. Media Kit. Available at https://nabsa.net/media-kit/.
The League of American Bicyclists. Bicycle Friendly Community Survey data from questions B14 and B16 and BMR Supplemental question BMR1. Alliance for Biking and Walking. Bicycling and Walking in the United States: 2016 Benchmarking Report. Available at https://bikeleague.org/sites/default/ files/2016BenchmarkingReport_web.pdf. The most recent year reported to either survey was used for this chart and is identified in the Appendix for each city. U.S. Census Bureau. 2010 Decennial Census. 2010 Census Urban and Rural Classification and Urban Area Criteria. Available at https://www.census. gov/geo/reference/ua/urban-rural-2010.html. U.S. Census Bureau. American Community Survey Table B01003 5-year estimate (2016). Available at https:// factfinder.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/index.xhtml
The League of American Bicyclists. Bicycle Friendly Community Survey data from questions B14 and B16 and BMR Supplemental question BMR1. Alliance for Biking and Walking. Bicycling and Walking in the United States: 2016 Benchmarking Report. Available at https://bikeleague.org/sites/default/ files/2016BenchmarkingReport_web.pdf. The most recent year reported to either survey was used for this chart and is identified in the Appendix for each city. U.S. Census Bureau. 2010 Decennial Census. 2010 Census Urban and Rural Classification and Urban Area Criteria. Available at https://www.census. gov/geo/reference/ua/urban-rural-2010.html. U.S. Census Bureau. American Community Survey Table B01003 5-year estimate (2016). Available at https:// factfinder.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/index.xhtml
