Bike-Share and Bike Lanes: The Chicken and Egg Debate

Which should come first, good bike infrastructure or bike-share? This is a matter of some debate, and we don't pretend to have a definitive answer. But we do have some instructive research.

While it's obviously ideal to have bike infrastructure prior to embarking on a bike-share program, many communities, like Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Dayton, Ohio, are going the opposite route, hoping new cyclists enticed by bike-share will help build political support for complete streets.

A recent study by the FHWA [PDF] found that bike-share systems can work fairly well in areas with less-developed bike infrastructure. But today's Network post, from Darren Buck at Bike Pedantic, finds evidence that more people opt for bike-share when bike lanes are nearby, via an analysis of ridership rates for DC's Capital Bikeshare.

Buck offers the above scatterplot, showing how bike-share ridership is linked to the presence of bike infrastructure within 800 meters of a bike-share station. The data comes from this study [PDF] produced by Buck, who worked with a professor at Virginia Tech.

Buck had this to say about the findings:

And he wonders if Dayton, Ohio, which is studying bike-share, might be better served putting that money into bike infrastructure.

Elsewhere on the Network today: Cap'n Transit looks at the history of street parking in New York City. Bike Delaware carries a statement from DelDOT explaining its aversion to sharrows. And City Block says the line between cities and suburbs is increasingly blurry.