A recent bike-counting survey at the University of Washington reveals a surge in bike parking usage on campus. Bike parking usage has gone up 12.8 percent since last year and 25 percent since 1995.
From the UW report:
- The 2,745 bicycles counted in the 2010 Survey were the most in its fifteen year history. They represent a 12.8 percent increase from the 2,434 bicycles counted in 2009 and a 3.4 percent increase over the previous record (2,655), set in 2008.
- Since the Survey’s inception in 1995, the number of bicycles counted has grown 24.9 percent.
- 2010’s overall bicycle rack utilization (number of bicycles / bicycle parking capacity) of 55.7 percent is the highest in the Survey’s history. The 53.2 percent adjusted rack utilization, which accounts for changes in assumed rack capacity between 2009 and 2010, is still the highest rack utilization in the Survey’s history, 10.9 percentage points greater than in 2009 (42.3 percent utilization) and 11.9 percentage points greater than in 2008 (41.3 percent utilization).
- Compared to 2009, bicycle rack utilization increased by 13.5 percentage points overall, growing in all areas of campus (ranging between 10.6 and 20.0 percentage points) except for West Campus (‐7.9 percentage points). 2010’s adjusted rack utilization increased in all areas of campus (ranging between 7.4 and 20.0 percentage points) except for West Campus (‐10.0 percentage points).
- Central Campus experienced the largest single‐year increase in number of bicycles counted, growing from 681 bicycles in 2009 to 966 in 2010 (increase of 285). West and South Campus were the only areas of campus that experienced single‐year declines in number of bicycles counted (‐41 and ‐29, respectively).
Meanwhile, reported summer bike thefts on campus were almost twice as high as they were last year (46 vs 24 in 2009). Last school year, winter was the worst bike theft month, with 58 thefts reported. Hopefully, this winter goes a little better.
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The UW Daily reports that of last year’s 157 campus bike thefts, only 5 had been secured with u-locks. The rest were secured with cable locks.
The parking report:
Comments
One response to “UW bike parking use up 13%”
As a UW employee who has been commuting to work by bike on and off over the last six years, I have become aware of a pretty significant increase in cyclists on campus this year. I wonder if it has anything to do with the significant hike in parking rates that the UW instituted at the beginning of this school year in September?