DVRPC's Bicycle Cyclical Count Program

Counter Locations - 9

Counters by Facility Type Mixed Traffic - 5 Multiuse Trail or Sidepath - 2 Bicycle Lane - Conventional - 1 Sharrow - 1

Counters by Municipality Hopewell Township - 2 Trenton City - 2 West Windsor Township - 2 Hightstown Borough - 1 Hopewell Borough - 1 Princeton - 1

Note: Rings of the same size indicate the location experienced little or no change from the previous time period.

Data is missing from some locations in Mercer County; please see below for the time period missing in the chart. **location missing data from 2017-2019 ***location missing data from 2020-2022

Counter Locations - 14

Counters by Facility Type Mixed Traffic - 7 Striped Shoulder - 5 Multiuse Trail or Sidepath - 1 Bicycle Lane - Conventional - 1

Counters by Municipality Evesham Township - 3 Bordentown City - 1 Burlington City - 1 Edgewater Park Township - 1 Mansfield Township - 1 Maple Shade Township - 1 Medford Lakes Borough - 1 Moorestown Township - 1 Mount Holly Township - 1 Palmyra Borough - 1 Riverside Township - 1 Tabernacle Township - 1

Note: Rings of the same size indicate the location experienced little or no change from the previous time period.

Data is missing from some locations in Burlington County; please see below for the time period missing in the chart. *location added after 2016 ***location missing data from 2020-2022

Counter Locations - 17

Counters by Facility Type Mixed Traffic - 7 Multiuse Trail or Sidepath - 7 Bicycle Lane - Conventional - 3

Counters by Municipality Camden City - 5 Collingswood Borough - 3 Cherry Hill Township - 1 Gibbsboro Borough - 1 Gloucester Township - 1 Haddon Heights Borough - 1 Haddon Township - 1 Lindenwold Borough - 1 Merchantville Borough - 1 Pennsauken Township - 1 Runnemede Borough - 1

Note: Rings of the same size indicate the location experienced little or no change from the previous time period.

Data is missing from some locations in Camden County; please see below for the time period missing in the chart. *location added after 2016 ***location missing data from 2020-2022 ****location missing data (multiple periods)

Counter Locations - 8

Counters by Facility Type Striped Shoulder - 3 Bicycle Lane - Conventional - 2 Mixed Traffic - 2 Multiuse Trail or Sidepath - 1

Counters by Municipality Glassboro Borough - 2 Clayton Borough - 1 East Greenwich Township - 1 Elk Township - 1 Monroe Township - 1 Paulsboro Borough - 1 Woodbury City - 1

Note: Rings of the same size indicate the location experienced little or no change from the previous time period.

Data is missing from some locations in Gloucester County; please see below for the time period missing in the chart. *location added after 2016 ****location missing data (multiple periods)

The following maps showcase bicycle cyclical count data for DVRPC's Pennsylvania counties, which include Bucks, Montgomery, Delaware, and Chester. The number of count locations and facility types varies from county to county. To view data for individual count locations, please click on a specific location on the county map.

Counter Locations - 6 Counters by Facility Type Mixed Traffic - 6

Counters by Municipality Bensalem Township - 1 Bristol Township - 1 Doylestown Borough - 1 Morrisville Borough - 1 New Hope Borough - 1 Solebury Township - 1

Note: Rings of the same size indicate the location experienced little or no change from the previous time period.

Data is missing from some locations in Bucks County; please see below for the time period missing in the chart. **location missing data from 2017-2019 ***location missing data from 2020-2022 ****location missing data (multiple periods)

Counter Locations - 19

Counters by Facility Type Mixed Traffic - 8 Multiuse Trail or Sidepath - 6 Striped Shoulder - 3 Bicycle Lane - Conventional - 1 Sharrow - 1

Counters by Municipality Abington Township - 3 Norristown Borough - 3 Upper Providence Township - 2 Conshohocken Borough - 1 Hatfield Township - 1 Lansdale Borough - 1 Lower Merion Township - 1 Narberth Borough - 1 Pottstown Borough - 1 Upper Dublin Township - 1 Upper Merion Township - 1 West Norriton Township - 1 Whitemarsh Township - 1 Whitpain Township - 1

Note: Rings of the same size indicate the location experienced little or no change from the previous time period.

Data is missing from some locations in Montgomery County; please see below for the time period missing in the chart. *location added after 2016 ***location missing data from 2020-2022 ****location missing data (multiple periods)

Counter Locations - 20

Counters by Facility Type Mixed Traffic - 9 Multiuse Trail or Sidepath - 6 Striped Shoulder - 5

Counters by Municipality East Bradford Township - 2 Phoenixville Borough - 2 Tredyffrin Township - 2 Uwchlan Township - 2 West Chester Borough - 2 Coatesville City - 1 East Marlborough Township - 1 East Vincent Township - 1 Honey Brook Borough - 1 Kennett Township - 1 Lower Oxford Township - 1 New Garden Township - 1 Spring City Borough - 1 Wallace Township - 1 West Grove Borough - 1

Note: Rings of the same size indicate the location experienced little or no change from the previous time period.

Data is missing from some locations in Chester County; please see below for the time period missing in the chart. *location added after 2016 ***location missing data from 2020-2022 ****location missing data (multiple periods)

Counter Locations - 12

Counters by Facility Type Mixed Traffic - 7 Striped Shoulder - 3 Multiuse Trail or Sidepath - 2

Counters by Municipality Swarthmore Borough - 2 Upper Darby Township - 2 Yeadon Borough - 2 Edgmont Township - 1 Glenolden Borough - 1 Haverford Township - 1 Marcus Hook Borough - 1 Marple Township - 1 Media Borough - 1

Note: Rings of the same size indicate the location experienced little or no change from the previous time period.

Data is missing from some locations in Delaware County; please see below for the time period missing in the chart. ***location missing data from 2020-2022 ****location missing data (multiple periods)

The following maps showcase bicycle cyclical count data for Philadelphia, the most populated county in the DVRPC nine-county region. The number of count locations and facility types varies from county to county. To view data for individual count locations, please click on a specific location on the county map.

Counter Locations - 29

Counters by Facility Type Bicycle Lane - Conventional - 12 Mixed Traffic - 7 Bicycle Lane - Buffered - 5 Bicycle Lane - Protected - 3 Multiuse Trail or Sidepath - 1 Sharrow - 1

Counters by Planning Districts Central - 12 University-Southwest - 9 South - 4 Lower North - 1 Lower Northwest - 1 North Delaware - 1 River Wards - 1

Note: Rings of the same size indicate the location experienced little or no change from the previous time period.

Indego, Philadelphia’s public bike-share program, launched in 2015 with 600 bicycles at 60 stations. The initial service area focused on Center City and nearby neighborhoods but has since expanded throughout the city. In 2016, its first full year, residents and visitors completed 655,058 trips on Indego; six years later, in 2022, the number of completed trips grew to 905,790. Indego now has 237 active stations with more than 2,150 bicycles, consisting of conventional and electric bicycles, which were introduced in 2019. In 2024, Indego plans to expand its fleet to 3,000 bikes and add 1,000 new dock points at 45-50 new stations.

As of April 2023, Indego reported surpassing six million trips in Philadelphia over the last eight years. With about 8,700 active Indego pass holders, the bike-share service has transformed active transportation in Philadelphia and has provided bicycle access to many residents. Indego likely played a key role in the increase in bicycle volumes in Philadelphia between 2017 and 2019 by providing additional bicycle access to residents and visitors. Between 2020 and 2022, as bicycle volumes fell in the city, the expansion of Indego stations and the growth of overall trips likely prevented a further decline in ridership.

Sources:  City of Philadelphia - Indego 2022 Expansion Plan   Indego Trip Data - 2015 to 2023   Indego - 2024 Expansion Update   Riding Into the Future: Indego Celebrates 8 Years in Philadelphia 

Over the last nine years of the program, bicycle infrastructure in the nine-county region has expanded to more streets and trails. Notable improvements include a 3.8-mile Chester Valley Trail extension in Montgomery County, which now connects to the Schuylkill River Trail in Norristown, PA. A conventional bicycle lane was added to Park Drive in Pennsauken, NJ, along the north bank of Cooper River in Camden County. A bollard and parking-protected bicycle lane was installed on Chestnut Street between 63rd Street and 22nd Street in Philadelphia. These upgrades are likely to increase bicycle volumes in the region as the dedicated space reduces interactions with motorists, creating a safer and more comfortable riding experience for cyclists.

Bicycle volumes in the nine-county region have been impacted by a change in commuting behavior as many office workers shifted to remote and hybrid work schedules during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Pennsylvania counties had the highest percentage of workers who reported working from home at 13.6 percent in 2021, up from 4.9 percent at the start of the Bicycle Cyclical Count Program in 2014.

The decline in bicycle commuters is borne out in the count data as many would-be cyclist commuters now work remotely or with a hybrid work schedule. Nationwide, between 2019 and 2021, there was a significant decline in workers cycling to work, dropping by 24 percent. The lingering impact of the pandemic can be observed in other modes of transportation; in  SEPTA's Passenger Revenue & Ridership report from November 2023 , systemwide ridership was 67 percent of its pre-pandemic levels, with its regional rail ridership at 58 percent, and transit ridership at 68 percent.

The impact of remote and hybrid work schedules can also be seen in the number of office workers in the region's employment centers. Per Kastle Systems, a security service firm that tracks entries into office buildings, the Philadelphia metropolitan region occupancy rate in November 2023 was 46.6 percent, behind the national average of 57.2 percent. Center City District, a business improvement district in downtown Philadelphia, reported in their  2023 State of Center City  that the volume of individuals in the city's office district was just 47 percent of pre-pandemic levels.

Sources:  Center City District - 2023 State of Center City   Kastle Systems: Back to Work Barometer - November 2023   SEPTA's Passenger Revenue & Ridership - November 2023  U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates

Employment centers are concentrated areas of non-residential development. These centers form the backbone of the region’s economy and are prime destinations for journey-to-work trips; they significantly impact the region’s highways and transit systems. They are defined as areas where a number of employers together employ at least 500 employees and have an employment density of at least 2.0 employees per acre  (DVRPC Regional Employment Centers - 2014). 

In the region, there was a one percent increase in bicycle volumes within employment centers before the COVID-19 pandemic. Between 2020 and 2022, bicycle volumes decreased in employment centers in the region, likely due to their high concentration of jobs as workers shifted to remote and hybrid work schedules. The decline was significant within employment centers in Philadelphia and the NJ counties, while bicycle volumes in the PA counties' employment centers remained relatively consistent.

Sources:  Bicycle Count Data Source: DVRPC   Regional Employment Centers and Sites Source: DVRPC  U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates

People density is the number of people living and working by Census block. For each count location, a people density rating out of five was assigned, with one being the lowest and five being the highest.

In the program's first six years, urban cores, locations with high people density scores, maintained consistent bicycle volumes or even increased, while areas with lower density experienced a marked decline. This trend was likely due to urban cores, such as Philadelphia, installing bicycle infrastructure and beginning to build out a connected network. Between the second and third count periods, 2017-2019 to 2020-2022, bicycle volumes fell the furthest in the most dense areas, with a people density score of four or five. This trend is concerning due to how much of the region's bicycle volumes are concentrated in these areas, about 80 percent of the count locations at the 87 analyzed. The region's least dense areas, locations with a people density score of one, saw a significant increase of 39 percent in bicycle volumes. This trend may be due to cyclists feeling safer riding in more rural and remote areas, but more research and data are needed.

Sources:  Bicycle Count Data Source: DVRPC  U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates

To understand cyclists' preferences and uncover behavior patterns, we examined bicycle volumes by facility type. Of the seven facility types surveyed, only dedicated bicycle facilities saw an increase in the program's first six years. The growth of bicycle volumes in protected and buffered facilities especially demonstrated a clear preference by cyclists. After the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, ridership across nearly every facility type began to decline, especially on dedicated bicycle lanes, leading to an overall decline of 23 percent. This is likely due to the shifting commuting patterns of workers, as dedicated facilities are often located in the dense core of Philadelphia.

Source:  Bicycle Count Data Source: DVRPC 

The decrease in cycling may also, in part, be due to a rise in aggressive and distracted driving by motorists. In 2021, eight cyclists died in Philadelphia, with seven killed by motorists, the highest number since data tracking began in 1997. In 2022, the number of cyclist fatalities fell to two in the city, but that number rose sharply, with ten cyclists killed in 2023. Cyclists killed or severely injured in the PA counties have remained relatively low compared to the NJ Counties and Philadelphia. Concerns over personal safety may be a key factor discouraging cyclists from riding in the NJ Counties and Philadelphia.

**NJDOT data is unavailable for the NJ counties after 2020

"There are a number of possible reasons for rising deaths — among them, many more of our cars are big and deadly S.U.V.s, states keep raising speed limits, ride-sharing vehicles have made our roads more chaotic, and people drove much more recklessly during the pandemic."

Sources:  Bicycle Count Data Source: DVRPC    New York Times: Riding a Bike in America Should Not Be This Dangerous (2022)  NJDOT PennDOT U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates

Over the program's first six years, bicycle volumes steadily increased by five percent in Philadelphia, likely due to an expansion of dedicated bicycle infrastructure and the creation and subsequent growth of the Indego bike share program. The COVID-19 pandemic reversed that trend, especially in Philadelphia's Central, South, and University-Southwest districts.

The Central, South, and University-Southwest districts have the highest bicycle volumes in Philadelphia, likely due to their high concentration of jobs and people-density levels. Between 2017 and 2019, the South district had the largest percentage increase of cyclists in the city, growing by 41 percent. This growth rate was higher than that in the Central and University-Southwest districts, which increased at nine percent and five percent, respectively. However, between 2020 and 2022, bicycle ridership in the South district dropped by more than 55 percent, while in the Central and University-Southwest districts, volumes fell by 34 percent and 28 percent, respectively. In all three districts, ridership from 2020 to 2022 was below the level measured from 2014 to 2016, the start of this data collection. Outside of the region, this downward trend has been observed in peer cities. In Portland, Oregon, bicycle ridership was down 35 percent between 2019 and 2022 and fell to its lowest level since 2006.

Sources:  Bicycle Count Data Source: DVRPC    Bike Portland: City counts reveal data behind Portland’s precipitous drop in cycling (2023)