Facts and Stats

  • While the average family spends around 19 percent of its budget getting around, very low-income families (defined as families who make less than half of an area's median income) can see as much as 55 percent of their earnings eaten up by transportation costs, according to a report by the Center for Transit-Oriented Development. (Boston Review)

  • In the summer of 2008, automatic counts of bicyclists on the Minneapolis Midtown Greenway showed a 30 percent increase over the same months in the previous year. (City of Minneapolis Department of Public Works Bicycle & Pedestrian Program)

  • In Portland, Ore., the number of bicyclists increased five-fold over 15 years in response to a program which encouraged bicycling, and tripled the mileage of local trails and bikeways. (City of Portland Office of the Auditor)

  • The average American motorist now drives about 15,000 miles a year. In recent decades, total miles driven (referred to as Vehicle Miles Traveled, or VMT, by planners) have increased three times faster than population growth, putting a severe strain on our roads. As a consequence, the average traveler now wastes the equivalent of a full work week stuck in traffic every year. (The 2007 Urban Mobility Report)

  • Improving current highway conditions and performance measures has been estimated to require annual investments exceeding $200 billion. Current fuel tax revenue projections, however, suggest that the amount available will only be half of that. (National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission)

  • Half of all trips we take are only three miles or less—yet we drive almost everywhere we need to go, even to the closest destinations. (Federal Highway Administration)

  • Rates of car ownership in the United States are the highest in the world, and the number of cars per household now exceeds the number of drivers. (Federal Highway Administration)

  • More than 60 million Americans are not allowed to drive because they are too young. Another 30 million adults are not licensed to drive for a variety of reasons including economics, age, disability and choice. Eight million Americans above the age of 60 do not have a driver’s license, and many more licensed drivers choose not to drive. Bicycling and walking are crucial in providing universal mobility. (US Census Bureau, US Department of Transportation)

  • Currently, short bicycling and walking trips account for 23 billion miles traveled every year. Modest increases in bicycling and walking mode share for trips of three miles or less could double that figure, and more substantial increases could yield four times more miles bicycled or walked. Taking into account secondary effects from synergies with public transportation and mixed-use development, modest increases in active transportation could avoid 69 billion miles driven, and substantial increases could lead to 199 billion miles of avoided driving. (Rails to Trails Conservancy)

  • According to the 2001 National Household Travel Survey, 48 percent of all trips were three miles or less and 24 percent were one mile or less. (Federal Highway Administration)

  • Nationwide, 29 percent of commuters travel less than five miles each way to work—a distance comfortably ridden in about half an hour— or about the same length of time as the average American commute. (Bureau of Transportation Statistics)

  • For the price of a single mile of a four-lane urban highway, approximately $50 million, hundreds of miles of bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure can be built, an investment that could complete an entire network of active transportation facilities for a mid-sized city. (Rails to Trails Conservancy)

  • Half of the trips in America can be completed within a 20-minute bike ride, and a quarter of trips are within a 20-minute walk. Yet, the vast majority of these short trips are taken by automobile. (Federal Highway Administration)

  • Every additional hour spent in a car is associated with a 6% increase in the risk of obesity, and every kilometer walked is associated with a 5% decrease in obesity risk. (Center for Disease Control)

  • Thirty-six percent of adults don’t report any leisure time physical activity; 88% don’t meet federal guidelines for the recommended amount of activity. (Center for Disease Control)

  • The estimated medical costs of inactivity top $75 billion per year. (Center for Disease Control)

  • Walking and biking are the top leisure physical activities of choice in the U.S., and are also the top utilitarian physical activities. (Center for Disease Control)

  • Public transit users walk a median of 19 minutes daily getting to and from transit stops. Nearly 30 percent of transit users exceed the 30 minutes of recommended physical activity per day. (Center for Disease Control)

  • According to a survey of Washington, D.C. Bike to Work Day participants, 17 percent said they had never bike commuted before the event, 10 percent started riding to work after the event, and 22 percent started riding more often. (National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board) 

  • Sales of new cars have almost halved in the U.S, down from nearly 11 million in 1985 to about 5.5 million in 2009. (New Scientist)

  • The fraction of American 17-year-olds with a driver's licence has fallen from about three-quarters to about half since 1998. (New Scientist)

  •  In the US, the average car on the average journey carries 1.7 people, half a person less than in 1970. (New Scientist)

  • The typical metropolitan household without a vehicle can reach over 40 percent of metro-wide jobs via transit within 90 minutes, exceeding the 29 percent transit access share for households with a vehicle. (Brookings Institute)

  • Over 90 percent of zero-vehicle households in large metropolitan areas live in neighborhoods with access to transit service of some kind. (Brookings Institute)

  • In the nation’s largest metropolitan areas, 7.5 million households do not have access to a private automobile. (Brookings Institute)

  • Americans drove 3.6% fewer miles in 2008 than 2007. (The Real Estate of America Atlas by Cynthia Enloe and Joni Seager)

  • Building bike lanes and other cycling infrastructure creates an average of 11.4 jobs for every $1 million spent, according to a new study that analyzed data from Concord and 10 other U.S. cities. That included six direct jobs like construction workers and engineers, 2.4 indirect jobs such as sign manufacturers and three "induced" jobs in industries like food service that see increased demand. (Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst)

  • Road-only projects, like repaving and widening, create an average of 7.8 jobs per $1 million, including four direct jobs, according to the study. On average, all projects together created about nine jobs per $1 million, including 4.7 direct jobs. (Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst)

  • The age group of 40 to 64 more than doubled its share of bicycle trips in the U.S., from 10% to 21%, between 2001 and 2009, a period when the number of daily bike commuters rose by nearly 100%. At the same time, the share of cycling trips made by women fell from 33% to 24%. (John Pucher of Rutgers University)

  • The percentage of U.S. commuters using bicycles is lowest in Alabama, Tennessee, and West Virginia (0.1%) and highest in the District of Columbia and Oregon (1.9%), but the continent's highest rates are in Yukon (2.6%) and the Northwest Territories (2.15), two of the coldest parts of Canada. (Transportation Research)

  • The number of U.S. trips made by bike doubled between 1990 and 2009.  (Federal Highway Administration)

  • A study of more than 18,000 middle-aged women found that those who bicycled regularly put on less weight as they aged.  (Archives of Internal Medicine)

  • New York City residents save $19 billion every year by using alternative transportation.  If NYC residents drove as much as residents of other big cities, they would own 4.5 million additional cars, consume 2.4 billion more gallons of gas, and produce 23 million more tons of carbon emissions each year.  (NYC Dept. of Transportation)

  • In 2008, vehicle miles traveled decreased by 4% in the US.  This resulted in 30% less congestions at peak traffic hours.  (INRIX)

  • Nearly one third of commuters in the Boston area use public transportation.  (Transportation for America)

  • Federal law does NOT hold SUVs and light trucks to strict emissions standards placed on passenger vehicles.  (Transportation for America)

  • In just one U.S. generation, the percentage of kids who walk to bike to school has dropped from 50% to 15%, while childhood obesity has tripled.  (Bikes Belong Coalition)

  • The U.S. could import 462 million fewer gallons of gasoline a year by increasing cycling from 1% to 1.5% of all trips.  (Bikes Belong Coalition)

  • On a round-trip commute of 10 miles, bicyclists save roughly $10 daily and spare the air 10 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions, while burning 360 calories in the process.  (Bikes Belong Coalition)

  • Bicycling for transportation can reduce mortality by 35 to 40%.  (Bikes Belong Coalition)

  • The average American household spends over $8,000 per year on owning and driving their cars.  It costs about $300 a year to maintain a bike.  (U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics)

  • Despite having only 5% of the world’s population, vehicles in the US contribute 45% of the world’s motor vehicle greenhouse gases.  (Environmental Defense Fund)

  • Amtrak revenues cover nearly 80% of the company’s operating cost.  (Amtrak)

  • 89% of US passenger transportation uses highways, compared to the 0.6% that uses rail service.  (Bureau of Transportation Statistics)

  • The average American household will spend $2,200 on gas each year.  (Transportation for America)

  • Forty percent of all trips in America are two miles or less.  Seventy-four percent of these trips are made by car.  (Transportation for America)

  • Around the world road traffic injuries take the lives of 145 people every hour of  everyday. This is more than two lives a minute. 90% of these facilities occur in the world's rapidly urbanizing low- and middle-income nations. (Mayor Bloomberg's press release)

  • 74 million new cars hit the world's roads each year. 64 new cars a minute. (Mayor Bloomberg's press release)

  • The World Health Organization predicts that traffic crashes will become the world's 5th leading cause of death by 2030. (WHO)

  • Transporation is the second largest expense for households in the United States, costing more than food, clothing and health care. (Transportation for America)

  • More than 80% of the nation's transit systems are considering or have recently enacted fare increases or service cuts, including reductions in rush-hour service, off-peak service and geographic coverage. (American Public Transportation Association)

  • Households earning $20,000 to $35,000 annually and located far from job centers spend 70% of their income on housing and transporation combined. (Transporation for America)

  • 50% of older people in the United States stay home on a given day because they lack transporation options.  (Transporation for America)

  • Repair work on road and bridges generates 16% more jobs than construction of new roads and bridges. (Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts)

  • More than four-in-five voters (82%) say that the "United States would benefit from an expanded and improved public transportaion system, such as rail and buses." (Transportation for America)

  • Every $1 billion invested in public transporation capital/operations creates or supports: 36,000 jobs, $3.6 billion on sales, nearly $500 million in federal, state and local tax revenues. (Economic Development Research Group)

  • If 20 of our nation's metropolitan areas shifted 50% of their highway funds to transit, they would create over 1.1 million new transit-related jobs over 5 years-without a single dollar of new spending. (Transportation Equity Network)

  • After converting the 3-lane one-way roads of Prospect Park into 2-lane roads with two-way bikeways, improved signage and signaling, and pedestrian islands, the NYC DOT found that speeding was reduced by 54%, injury-causing crashes decreased by 63%, and combined vehicle and bicycle counts (mobility) still increased by 13% in the AM rush period and 9% in the PM rush period. (Project for Public Spaces)

  • A Danish study of 20,000 children between the ages of 5 and 19 found that ones who cycled or walked to school, rather than traveling by car or public transportation, performed measurably better on tasks demanding concentration, such as solving puzzles, and that the effects lasted for up to four hours after they got to school. (The Atlantic: Cities)

  • More than 70 percent of surface area in Los Angeles is dedicated to automobiles (roads, parking, gas stations, etc.). Parks and and open spaces have but a mere 5 percent.(Good.is)

  • Results from a 2007-2010 Iowa public health study are suggestive that the presence of an on-road bicycle facility decreases crash risk by as much as 60% with a bicycle lane or shared lane arrow and 38% with bicycle-specific signage. (Cara Hamann, Corinne Peek-Asa)

  • Researchers have found that the rate of child pedestrian injuiries during "school travel" hours fell by 44 percent around schools where the city made traffic changes. These changes included installing more traffic lights and speed bumps, putting islands in the center of wide streets, and setting up digital signs that tell drivers how fast they are going. (HealthDay News)

  • Looking at 58 separate projects, a study last year by Heidi Garrett-Peltier at the Political Economy Research Institute found that $1 million invested in bike infrastructure produced 11.4 jobs, against 10 jobs for the same amount invested in pedestrian schemes, and 7.8 jobs for road-only projects. (Fastcoexist.com)

  • In 2008, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) revised its policy statement on transportation to call for the consideration of all transportation types, including bicycling, in every transportation project. Bob McNamara, senior policy representative for NAR says Realtors “don’t just sell homes, [they] sell communities.” (2009 National Bike Summit)

  • Bike lane can costs depend on conditions, but can cost as little as $5,000 a mile – far less expensive than the cost of building or repairing lanes for car travel. For the cost of repaving three miles of rough pavement on Interstate 710 in California, CalTrans could sign and stripe 1,250 miles of California roads for bike lanes. That’s more than the distance from Los Angeles to Seattle. (WalkingInfo.com, Los Angeles Times)

  • During the period 1999-2007, the amount of cycling in New York City increased by 98%, and the absolute number of cyclists killed or seriously injured in New York City decreased by 29%. (NYC Department of Transportation)

  • A motorist is less likely to collide with a person walking and bicycling if more people walk or bicycle. Policies that increase the numbers of people walking and bicycling appear to be an effective route to improving the safety of people walking and bicycling. (Peter Lyndon Jacobsen, Public Health Consultant)

  • The total annual cost of crashes in the nation's urbanized areas is 99,000,000,000. (NewPublicHealth.org)

  • Motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of unintentional injury deaths for ages 5-24. (NewPublicHealth.org)

  • For every dollar saved by moving to more affordable housing, 77 cents is spent on a longer commute to work. (NewPublicHealth.org)

  • 75% of all jobs are located outside city centers. (NewPublicHealth.org)

  • 60% of U.S Public Transit trips are by Bus. (NewPublicHealth.org)

  • The percent of U.S buses with bike racks tripled from 2000-2006. (NewPublicHealth.org)

  • Studies show 46% of people will walk 1 mile to church or school and 1% will work 3-4 miles to church or school. (NewPublicHealth.org)

  • Studies show 35% of people will walk 1 mile to work and 1% will walk 304 miles to work. (NewPublicHealth.org)

  • 30% of transit uers get 30+ minutes of physical activity each day (StreetsBlog)

  • Public transit users walk an average 19 minutes daily getting to and from transit stops (StreetsBlog)

  • After the installation of protected bike lanes on New York City's 8th and 9th Avenues in the fall of 2007, there were increases in retail sales of up to 49% in those areas, compared to 3% in the rest of Manhattan. (New York Department of Transportation)

  • Commercial vacancies dropped 49% in the areas around the recently developed pedestrain-oriented plazas in Union Square, and retail sales increased by 71% on Fordham Road in the Bronx, where the city has begun the Select Bus Service campaign, designed to cut travel times and boost ridership- even during a period where bus usage around the city has dwindled. (New York Department of Transportation)

  • Traffic incidents are the leading cause of fatal injuries within the US, accounting for 39% of total deaths. 21% of these are highway related incidents.

  • The MBTA service area (all municipalities with a transit stop or directly adjacent to one with a transit stop) is 175 cities and towns, and represents 74% of the state’s population. (MAPC)

  • From 2001 and 2009, the average annual number of vehicle-miles traveled by young people (16 to 34-year-olds) decreased from 10,300 miles to 7,900 miles per capita – a drop of 23 percent. (US PIRG)

  • On average, larger increases in government spending on bike and pedestrian infrastructure are associated with larger increases in the number of bike commuters. (American Community Survey 2000 to 2008)

  • Three trillion vehicle miles are traveled in the U.S. each year, according to the Federal Highway Research Administration. (Center for Disease Control)

  • Between 1990 and 2009 the vehicle miles traveled for passenger cars and trucks has increased by 39 percent, said David Ragland, PhD, MPH, Director of the Safe Transportation Research and Education Center at the University of California at Berkeley. (Center for Disease Control)


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