My workplace: % of cyclists who cycle-commute

Well out of 14,000 employees, 516 responded to a quick internal fun poll on the mode of transportation that they use:

cycling= 5%
transit= 29%
walking= 6%
carpooling= 12%
car -only occupant= 48%

Our worksites are all over the city, with a big site downtown.


Last week they did a different poll on what fun activities would people choose with warm weather:
cycling was under 10%
walking topped higher
anything outdoors was around over 40%

I think over 350 employees responded...I don't have the exact statistics in front of me.


Boy, it makes cyclists...a hardy, rare bunch in our city.

I'd guess my place is about 95% car-single occupant.

Malkin, sounds like a workplace where I was previously. I wrote a little blog post about it. --a large construction site in the suburbs.

Oh yea, to add to the other stuff above, employees were also surveyed on the type of fun sports/social activities we would do for a work-based event:

Out of 65 respondents, only 3 of us listed cycling. I mean...geez we are only 3 blocks away from the 30 kms. bike path. But maybe a huge effort for some people to transport their bike.

Others wanted laser tag (what is that?), paintball, golf.

A (younger?) employee insultingly listed for the "to-be-retired boomer employees: lawn bowling". Talk about stereotyping by sport.

I wouldn't really put cycling up high on my priority list of fun things to do for a work event either. It's not that easy to socialize while cycling and people should be relatively evenly matched. (Oh, and laser tag is FUN ;) It's a pity not more bicycle for transport, though. I've often wondered what exactly it is that keeps people from cycling to work, when I hear their tales of woe about driving, not finding parking, etc. etc. One thing that does help is making cycling very high-profile, so that it becomes, if not the norm, at least accepted as a real possibility for normal people and not just for the lean and mean training crowd. When my workplace moves back to our old building in May there'll be a drastic reduction in the number of parking spaces. That will be... interesting.

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Originally Posted by lph

When my workplace moves back to our old building in May there'll be a drastic reduction in the number of parking spaces. That will be... interesting.

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I guess the complaints might get real in ..winter. That's the real snow crunch. :p

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Originally Posted by lph

I wouldn't really put cycling up high on my priority list of fun things to do for a work event either. It's not that easy to socialize while cycling and people should be relatively evenly matched.

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Cycling is often referred to around here as "the new golf"....as many deals and contacts are made while cruising in a 25+mph pacelines on local club rides.

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Originally Posted by lph

It's a pity not more bicycle for transport, though. I've often wondered what exactly it is that keeps people from cycling to work, when I hear their tales of woe about driving, not finding parking, etc. etc.

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What bothers me most about these surveys, is that they do not account for multiple travel options. I generally bike commute ~85 days a year. But, I take the subway far more often. So, in response to a survey, I would honestly say that the subway is my "primary" mode of commuting. However, most folks around my work think of me as this hard core bike commuter type. (HA!) So surveys, I think, tend to underestimate bike commuting, because they do not account for intermittent bike commuters.

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Originally Posted by shootingstar

I guess the complaints might get real in ..winter. That's the real snow crunch. :p

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Yup. But, we do have a quite solid group of winter commuters, partly due to - ta-da! - me. I hope.

We have excellent public transport at this place though, we're practically on top of a metro station. But not everybody can take public transport all the way home. I am so glad that my "job" is just to help make things cycle-friendly, not sit and evaluate who gets to get a parking spot. The complaints will be flying.

Funnily enough, Norways largest conservative party (!) just suggested working towards car-free inner cities. Made my eyes pop out a bit for sure.

where I work it's probably 92% single rider vehicle, 5% car pool 1% mass transit and 2% bicyclists.
When the weather gets bad, it's 95% single vehicle and 5% carpool. not so good.

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Originally Posted by malkin

I'd guess my place is about 95% car-single occupant.

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I was going to +1 this, but I think it's more like 99.5%
Even folks like me who bike commute - I only do so 2 days/wk and not when the weather is bad.

At my last paid workplace, there was only one other person whoever rode to school, and that was very infrequently. The lack of showers and the planning involved stopped them. At the end of my time there, most of the teachers were much younger than me and a whole lot of the ones closer to my age lived close to school. But, they all thought I was nuts, especially after I moved and my commute went from 6.7 miles to just under 14. The younger teachers spent their time in the gym and the older ones were just quite unfit. Most of them were terrified of riding on the road.

I'm losing sight of the big picture: at least abit less car-drivers where we are. But then the biggest worksite is located half a block away from the light rail transit train stop.

We have a large outdoor, roof protected, caged shared bike locker area with security card access and bike posts within the caged area. It works and gets crowded during better weather seasons.

I live in a small town, where there are buses, but they run quite infrequently. No other mass transit exists.

So, out of about 20 people, one walks to work quite frequently (living within blocks of work). I ride to work occasionally now in the Summer (used to ride 3-4 times a week) but I have a scooter now - it's easier. One other lady rides to or from work occasionally and will have her husband drive her the other way. Her commute is about 15 miles.

The rest are one car, one occupant commuters. Even, though at least 2 more people live in walking distance and about 1/2 the remaining people live within 5 miles of the office, they all get into a car and drive by themselves to work.

I admit being totally guilty of driving to work when I should commute by bike or foot.

So presumably for those of us who do cycle-commute (and there's alot more of you than on this thread), you really can't even guess maybe % who at your workplace would be cycling at all for anything (exercise, commuting, etc.)?

By the way, my workplace survey response was actually over 500 respondents by the end of a workday. But cyclists' % still held steady at 5%. Yea, feels lonesome among thousands of others...even when our caged shared bike parking area gets full. Hmmm maybe 60 bikes at peak time. Other times, 40 would be a better estimate. That's just 1 workplace site for our organization. We have over 20 different worksites across the city.

Out of maybe 60 employees at my office location, we have 2 fulltime bike commuters in the summer (they walk in the winter) plus another 2-3 that bike in frequently in the summer. Pretty much everyone else falls in the one person per car category. I've been in the "frequent biker" category in the past but intend to be full time this summer.

P.S. It's a small town, there are no public transit options here

50% bike commuters at my job! Hah, just 2 employees. :)

We have about 90 employees between the Richmond and Denver offices (4 in Denver). The Richmond office is almost inaccessible by bike - I refused to ride on an 8-lane road - but one woman there bike commutes occasionally. I commute here maybe 3 days a week and hope to increase, though without the option of showering I may get sick of it in the summer.

One employee walks sometimes (he lives ~500 feet from the office)...but he drives about half the time. Seriously.