San Antonio B-Cycle, by most measures, should be a national model: first bikeshare program in Texas, one of the first in the nation, and after four years its network of 55 stations and 450 bikes is set to expand to 76 stations and 650 bikes with a $1.2 million Texas Department of Transportation (TXDOT) grant. Nearly every neighborhood surrounding downtown will have stations by the end of 2015.
People for Bikes, a national cycling advocacy organization, has just released the results of the most comprehensive cycling survey in recent memory.
The biggest take home statistics from the survey, based on the online responses of 16,000 adults: 100 million Americans (34 percent of the population) went for a ride at least once in the last year. Forty-five million of those bikers made at least one ride as a means of transportation, rather than recreation, but only 14 percent of bikers take two or more rides each week.
That’s not because they don’t want to: 53 percent said they would like to ride more, but don’t.
Why?