Mixed Methods of Bike Counting for Better Cycling Statistics: The Example of Bicycle Use, Abandonment, and Theft on UC Davis Campus

The paper describes using a combination of different methods of bike counting to better understand volumes of bicycles, bicyclists, and bicycle thefts at the University of California (UC) Davis. In particular, police reports and bike rack counts were combined with surveying a random sample of the population in order to triangulate around total numbers of active versus abandoned bikes parked on campus, net movements of bikes over the course of a day, and the extent that bikes were being used as local circulator mode only and whether they were being stored on campus overnight. The results underscore the value of using a mix of different measurement methods, enabling UC Davis planners to better estimate the volume of abandoned bikes parked on campus (approximately 47 percent of overnight bikes, 31 percent of daytime bikes, and 23 percent of the overall rack capacity), the extent that bicycle thefts are under-reported (about 12 percent are reported), and the extent that bikes are used as a secondary circulator mode (about 20 percent of the bikes on campus on an average weekday).

• 
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Lovejoy, Kristin
  • Handy, Susan L
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 90th Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2011-1-23 to 2011-1-27
• Date: 2011

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: DVD
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 8p
• Monograph Title: TRB 90th Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers DVD

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Bicycle travel; College students; Cyclists; Police reports
• Uncontrolled Terms: Bicycle racks
• Geographic Terms: Davis (California)
• Subject Areas: Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Planning and Forecasting; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01333098
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 11-3795
• Files: PRP, TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Mar 21 2011 2:13PM