2023 Walk and Bike Count

The Walk & Bike Count seeks to understand the current trends in active travel. LADOT uses the data from our bi-annual count in a number of ways, such as:

1. Understanding changes in people using active modes of transportation;
2. Providing data to inform and support decision making;
3. Tracking usage before and after transportation projects and programs are implemented;
4. Understanding how travel trends and behaviors vary across geographic areas and street typologies;
5. Forecasting and projecting future usage on projects being planned and designed; and
6. Identifying locations for future bicycle and pedestrian improvements

I. Methodology Description of count procedure and methods.

II. Temporary Count Results Results from weekday and weekend counts at 79 temporary location in the Fall of 2023.

III. Permanent Counter Results Year round bicycle and pedestrian counts from permanent counters at 21 fixed locations throughout the city.

IV. Project Evaluation A summary of travel behavior changes from transportation projects completed in the last two years.

V. American Community Survey Summary of data for Los Angeles from an annual nationwide transportation survey of commuting data.

The Walk and Bike count separates three primary modes of active travel: people walking, biking, and riding motorized scooters. In addition, a fourth category, "other" captures all other travel modes.

We collect information about each traveler. This data has proven to be valuable in understanding the travel patterns of women, people using wheeled devices, and people with mobility challenges. The traveler characteristics in our temporary counts include perceived gender, use of mobility assistance device or stroller, use of helmet, sidewalk riding, and contraflow riding.

The Walk & Bike Count captures people traveling along a block rather than crossing an intersection. This method, known as a screen line count, establishes an invisible line across a block and counts the number of people who pass over that line, noting their direction of travel. The diagram below illustrates how a screen line count is performed.

Our Walk & Bike Count also includes permanent counters (Eco-Counter CITIX 3D model) that were installed throughout 2021 and 2022. Permanent bike counters can constantly record the number of bicyclists and pedestrians at a location. We get year-round data from permanent bike counters, unlike the "snapshot" details from the screen line counts.

The Walk & Bike Count aligns with the industry recommendations for collecting data on people actively traveling. All temporary counts were performed between late September and early November, when the sun is out longer and weather is favorable. Counts were performed after the start of the academic school year when more students can be found walking or biking to school. We avoided counting during holidays, big events, and unusual weather conditions to eliminate data that deviates from normal travel patterns.

Each of the 79 temporary count locations had two counts: one on a weekday during the morning and evening commuting periods, and one on the weekend during the mid-day period. Weekday counts were performed on a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday, which best represents normal weekday travel patterns. Weekend counts were performed on either Saturday or Sunday, as research indicates both days have similar travel patterns.

Count programs operate best when they include a variety of locations. Ours include:

• Streets with high walking and/or biking activity
• Multi-use off-street paths
• On-street bikeways, especially at locations with few alternative parallel routes
• Downtowns and other employment areas
• Streets representing urban, suburban, and rural contexts
• Key corridors with future capital projects
• Streets with existing and ongoing historical counts
• Streets with high pedestrian and bicycle collision rates

We conducted counts at 100 locations throughout the city: 79 locations were temporary , screen line counts (also called manual counts) and 21 were permanent counter sites. Our locations include the facility types described in the following table.

In 2023, the average mode share split across 79 locations was 86% walking, 10% biking, 2.5% motorized scooter, and less than 1% other modes. This split is relatively consistent with the 2021 count, where we reported 83% walking, 13% biking, 3% motorized scooters, and 1% using other modes.

The majority of count sites have a higher proportion of pedestrians compared to other modes. Some sites, however, show a more even split. At five locations out of 79, Washington Blvd, Ohio Ave, Exposition Blvd, Red Car Bridge, and Arroyo Seco Paths, pedestrians make up less than 50% of travelers.

We counted a total of 80,706 people walking during our 2023 Walk & Bike Count. For total weekday and weekend volumes combined, the top location for walking was Hollywood Blvd at 15,152 people, or over 1,800 people per hour! This is significantly higher than the second highest location, Westwood Blvd, with 5,492 people.

During our weekday counts, we observed 58,628 people walking. Not surprisingly, the top locations for walking were along dense commercial corridors with nearby employment and educational facilities. During weekday counts, the top locations were also Hollywood Blvd and Westwood Blvd with 11,005 and 4,853 pedestrians, respectively.

During weekend two-hour counts, the top three locations were Hollywood Blvd with 4,147 people, 1st St between Central Ave and San Pedro St with 1,897 people, and Broadway in Chinatown with 1,074 people.

We counted a total of 9,746 people biking in our 2023 Walk & Bike Count. In total volume (i.e. combining weekday and weekend counts), the top location for biking was Washington Blvd between Ocean Ave & Grayson Ave at 1,086 bicyclists, which amounts to 135 bicyclists per hour. The second highest location was Main St in Venice with 532 bicyclists.

During the weekday period, we observed 6,962 people biking. When looking at weekdays alone, the Washington Blvd remained the top location for biking with 528 bicyclists. The second highest location, Main St in Venice had 344 bicyclists. Washington and Main St were also the top locations for weekend bicyclists with 558 and 188 riders, respectively.

The total amount of riders per facility type is shown in the chart below. The facility type with the most riders are standard lanes, followed by protected lanes, and locations with no bike facility.

The 2023 Walk & Bike Count captured 2,420 people using motorized scooters. We recorded motorized scooters at 77 locations. The top location was at Figueroa St between 30th St and 31st St with 272 riders, followed by Westwood Blvd at 206 riders, and Spring St with 155 riders. We recorded 10 or fewer riders at 28 locations and two riders or fewer at 5 locations.

Motorized scooter counts are shown in the map below. Icon size represents the number of scooters counted.

We observed 957 people using other active modes of travel in this year’s count. This number mostly consisted of people skateboarding, but we also observed people using roller skates, hoverboards, and more. The top locations for other modes were Figueroa St between 30th St and 31st St with 101 riders, Washington Blvd near Ocean Ave with 65 riders, Hollywood Blvd with 52 riders. This suggests that many alternative modes of transportation (like skateboards) are used near the beach and by colleges, like USC.

We observed five riders or fewer using other modes of travel at 67 locations; at six locations we did not observe any people using other modes of travel.

Why did we capture people’s gender in the Walk & Bike Count? Gender parity is considered an important indicator of success in creating safe, comfortable and attractive conditions for people traveling. For the count, we asked observers to classify each traveler by their perceived gender. We recognize that perceived gender is an imperfect metric and may not align with the self-identified gender of the traveler.

Of the 93,811 total people we observed in our count, 35% were perceived to be female. By mode, female travelers were 40% of pedestrians, 10% of bicyclists, 16% of motorized scooter riders, and 9% for people using other modes of travel.

Among pedestrians, only six of the 79 locations recorded more females than males. The top proportion of female walkers was at Colorado Blvd in Eagle Rock (61%), followed by Hoover St between Manchester Ave and 85th St (58%), and Silver Lake Blvd (55%).

When looking at weekday walking alone, 41% of travelers were perceived to be female. When comparing weekend counts, the proportion of females decreased slightly to 35%. These match data from our last count, which also reported a higher proportion of female travelers during weekdays compared to weekends.

On weekdays, 9% of bicyclists were female. This increased to 10% on weekends. The highest proportion of female riders overall was on Ohio Ave between Sepulveda Blvd and Pontius Ave (21%), followed by 4th St between Rossmore Ave and Arden Blvd (20%), and Main St in Venice (19%). On weekends, the highest percentages of female bicyclists were on Rosewood Blvd between Fairfax Ave and Orange Grove Ave (38%), Jefferson Blvd (29%), and Hoover St (28%).

Our count captured positioning for those riding bicycles, motorized scooters, and using other travel modes. Travelers were recorded using the roadway or sidewalk. The propensity of sidewalk riding on a given street is an indicator that a street may not feel comfortable or safe for riders. In Los Angeles, riding on the sidewalk is legal for bicycle, skateboard, and roller skate users. In California, motorized scooters are not allowed on the sidewalk.

For bicyclists, the location with the highest proportion of sidewalk riding was on Manchester Ave at 94%. This was followed by Nordhoff Blvd at 92% and Pico Blvd near Western Blvd at 91%. All three locations lack bicycle facilities and are wide corridors. In fact, the top 12 locations where sidewalk riding proportions were highest all lack bike facilities. The top 10 sidewalk riding locations by volume are found in the next table. The first 9 are located on streets with no bicycle facilities.

California law does not require adults 18 and over to wear a helmet, and as of January 2019, a person can also ride motorized scooters without a helmet. Despite this, officials still recommend wearing a helmet when using bicycles and motorized scooters.

In the 2023 Walk & Bike Count, we recorded 2,862 people used helmets out of the 12,979 bicycle, scooter, and other riders combined. On average, 25% of bicyclists wore helmets when riding, 8% of people riding motorized scooters wore helmets, and 5% of people using other modes wore helmets. At 18 locations we recorded 50% or more bicycle riders using helmets; all had a bike facility. The highest rates of bicycle helmet usage were seen on Santa Monica Blvd (79%), Rowena Ave (78%), and the Foothill Blvd (78%). Bicycle helmet usage decreased to 16% at locations without bike facilities and increased to 40% on bike paths.

Contra flow riding is defined as those riding in the opposite direction of the flow of traffic, such as riding eastbound in a westbound bike lane or vehicle lane. This information was captured for those riding bicycles, motorized scooters, and using other modes of travel in the bike lane or vehicle lane. Contra flow riding was not recorded on sidewalks as there is no designated direction of travel. People more often ride contra flow on one-way streets or when their destinations are on a side of the street opposite of the direction of travel.

The average rate of contra flow riding was 4% for bicyclists. This rate increased to 7% for motorized scooters and 4% for other modes. For bicyclists, the highest rate of contra flow riding was 25% at Vermont Ave between Florence Ave and 73rd St. For motorized scooter riders, the highest contra flow rate, considering counts with 10 riders or greater, was on 6th St between Main St & Spring St at 30%. For other modes, the highest contra flow rate of counts with 5 riders or greater was also on Vermont Ave with 38%. It is worth noting that of our top 10 locations, four are one-way streets and three more are wide streets with bidirectional traffic and a center median.

Prior to the inception of the LADOT Walk & Bike Count, community organizations and volunteers conducted their own Bike + Ped Count for over ten years. In the community-led count, they captured weekday travel from 7-9 AM and 4-6 PM (4 hours total). The LADOT count captures weekday travel from 7-10 AM and 3-6 PM (6 hours total). To keep comparisons consistent, we reduce the time period for our comparisons to match the previous four-hour time periods.

For historic counts (any count before the current year), some locations are missing one or more hours of data. To account for this and still be able to compare locations, we modified our analysis to only include hours that have data across all time periods. For example, in 2019, Main St between 6th St and 7th St is missing weekend data; to compare volumes at this location between 2019 and 2023, we will exclude 2023 weekend counts and focus on weekday comparisons only. Data collected prior to 2011 is not included in this analysis as counts were conducted at crosswalks, as opposed to our current method of performing screenline counts in the middle of a block.

Between 2021 and 2023, across 69 comparable locations, the total number of people traveling increased from 65,408 in 2021 to 72,231 two years later, a 10% increase. In 29 out of 69 comparable sites, bicycle and pedestrian volumes decreased while 40 locations experienced an increase. Alameda St between 1st St & 2nd St experienced a 151% increase in travelers. Meanwhile, the biggest decline occurred on Culver Blvd: 67% fewer people moved through this location in 2023 compared to 2021.

Between 2021 and 2023, pedestrian volume increased by 5% while bicycle and scooter volume increased by 42%. For people walking and using other modes of travel, the number of travelers increased from 55,742 to 58,497. The highest increase by volume was Hollywood Blvd between Highland Ave and Orange Dr, which observed 3,452 more pedestrians and other travel modes than in 2021. The biggest decrease in volume was on 5th St between Main St & Spring St where 928 fewer pedestrians and other modes traveled, a 43% decrease.

For all bicyclists and motorized scooters combined, travel increased from 9,666 to 13,734 riders, a 42% increase since 2021. The biggest increase by percentage and by volume occurred on 5th St between Main St & Spring St which increased by 400% of bicycles and scooters combined or 926 more bicyclists and scooter users. The largest decrease in total volumes was at Main St between Arcadia St & Aliso St, where 306 fewer riders were counted compared to 2021.

How do traveler characteristics in 2023 compare to previous years? This section uses data from 2021, 2019, 2017, 2015, and 2013 for comparison. Due to limited historic data on people walking, most of this analysis will focus on comparing the characteristics of those biking.

Helmet use fluctuates throughout the years but tends to average around 41% of all riders using helmets. In 2023, the percentage of cyclists wearing helmets was 23%, a decrease of 20% from 2021 when helmet use rose to 43%. Though rates may return to their historical average, the data demonstrates that the majority of all bicyclists do not use helmets. In the future, we hope to see the rate increase to one in every two riders.

Sidewalk riding has varied in the past decade but rarely makes up more than 30% of riders. This reveals the benefits of the continued expansion of protected and buffered bicycle facilities. In 2023, 30% of riders were recorded on the sidewalk, decreasing the sidewalk riding for the fourth count in a row. In 2021, 21% of bicyclists were recorded on the sidewalk, down from 22% in 2019, and 28% in 2017.

The proportion of contra flow riding has shown moderate variations across each year but remains at or below 5% of total riders. Contra flow riding accounted for 5% of total riding in 2023 and 2021, an increase from 3% of riders in 2019. This percentage was 2% in 2017. These ratios are great because riding in the same direction as traffic is safer.

The proportion of female riders in the 2023 count (9%) has shown a decrease from the previous 2021 count (15%). In the 2019 Bike + Ped Count, 17% of bicyclists were female, followed by 15% in 2017 and 2015, 18% in 2013, 15% in 2011, and 17% in 2009. This number is a decline compared to other years.

Between 2021 and 2022, LADOT, in partnership with the Bureau of Street Lighting, installed 35 permanent pedestrian and bike counters on various facility types at 25 locations throughout the city. Locations prioritized for permanent counters included shared use paths, Walk & Bike Count locations, and protected bicycle lanes. Often, two counters are placed, one on each side of the street, at locations where a single counter would not have a view of both sides of the street. These installations took place throughout the Summer and Fall of 2021, and the Spring and Winter of 2022. In future years, we will be able to better understand how ridership changes across days, by season, and after a facility is improved. The 2023 Walk & Bike Count reports on available 2022 and 2023 permanent count data.

The following table lists the total volumes captured in 2022 and 2023 by each counter, sorted by date of installation. 7th St, both the North and South side counters, are in the top five for overall volume in 2022 and 2023. Overall, the permanent counters are a great data-collecting tool for our safe streets effort because they inform us about where demand from travelers exists and how travelers change routes depending on facility upgrades. In 2022 and 2023, we can see that the top 10 sites for volume are in the densest parts of the city and closest to downtown and Hollywood.

Permanent counters were installed on four facility types: standard bike lanes, protected bike lanes, shared use paths, and streets with no facilities. A description of these facilities can be found in the diagram above. In both years, protected bike lanes had the highest average cyclist counts followed by standard bike lanes, shared use paths, and then streets with no facilities.

The most popular facility for cyclists are protected bike lanes. Thirteen counters were installed in 2022 so there is not a full year of data to compare to 2023. However, for sites that can be compared, the data still shows an increase in travelers between 2022 and 2023.

The permanent counters can also determine when a traveler is on foot. As shown in the graph below, there has been an increase in pedestrians at most facility types (with the exception of "no facility")

This section summarizes the one-year data of commuting travel taken from the U.S. Census ACS one-year estimates from 2011 to 2019, 2021, and 2022. Data in 2020 is not available due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since 2011, the percentage of households with a vehicle has increased by 14%. The ACS estimates that, as of 2022, only 11% of households do not have a vehicle, compared to 14% in 2011. Driving (alone or in a carpool) continues to be the most popular commute mode, accounting for 68% of all surveyed workers in 2022. This is a slight increase from 65% in 2021, which was the lowest rate in years due to the pandemic work from home restrictions.

Commuting across other travel modes also decreased since the pandemic. In 2021, only 9% of the workforce commuted by transit, bike, or walking compared to 13% in 2019. In 2022, the proportion of the workforce not driving was also 9%. Commute modes have not returned to pre-pandemic levels because many workplaces permanently adopted work from home policies. In 2021, about a quarter of the workforce was working from home. In 2022, that proportion decreased to 20% or one fifth of the working population. For reference, only 6% of the workforce was telecommuting in the 2010s.

The 2021 Walk & Bike Count provides a snapshot of all the ways people are actively traveling in Los Angeles. Active travel has risen compared to the 2021 count, though some general  trends have remained the same. 

The data from this report will be available to view and download through the City of Los Angeles Open Data Portal and on NavigateLA. Each year our datasets are growing with additional years of ACS data, more permanent counters, and additional count locations, and we look forward to continuing to analyze trends in travel across our City.

 2019 Walk & Bike Count Data 

 2021 Walk & Bike Count Data 

 2023 Walk & Bike Count Data