It’s bike count time again. Cascade Bicycle Club and WSDOT are organizing the annual statewide bike count, and they need your help.
From Cascade:
Late September is your time to make bicycling count in Seattle! Do you have two hours to spare for better bicycling?
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Cascade Bicycle Club and the Washington State Department of Transportation are back for year four of the Statewide Bicycle and Pedestrian Counts Project. This project helps measure the progress made across the state in bicycling and walking and helps us advocate for new and improved trails and safe facilities.
We need your help to conduct bicycle and pedestrian counts in over 30 cities this year, up from only 16 when we first started a few years ago. Your help will support creating more bike and pedestrian-friendly communities.
To sign up for a volunteer shift, click here. If you have any issues with logging in or are unable to make your shift once you have signed up, please email me.Date: You can choose September 27, 28, and/or 29 to conduct counts.
Time: Count times are 7 to 9 am and 4 to 6 pm.We will follow-up with you to confirm your shift location and time, and to ensure you have all the materials you need to perform the counts. In the meantime, feel free to read more about the project here, and download volunteer instructions and count forms here.
If you would like volunteer in Bellingham, Burien, Everett, Parkland, Puyallup, Tukwila or Wenatchee you will need to contact the following people (these cities are coordinating their own volunteers):
- Burien: Brooks Stanfield
- Bellingham: Kim Brown
- Everett: Dongho Chang
- Parkland/Puyallup: Shawn Phelps
- Tukwila: Moira Bradshaw
- Wenatchee: Patrick Walker
Comments
8 responses to “Volunteer to help count people riding bikes in late September”
It would be interesting to know where they plan on counting. It’s not to practical that they are going to cover an entire city so I’d be interested in determining where and how they choose their sites to count. And just how are these numbers going to impact walkers and riders? If we see a decline in use does that directly relate to a decline in funds for these projects? And what of the walker/rider that only uses the area of counting for a block or two? Do these count? In short, what are these stats telling us and how do they shape policy?? Because you know they do/will.
Hmmmm… from the WSDOT website: “Just like motor vehicle counts, counting bicyclists and pedestrians at specific locations will help us to more accurately estimate demand, measure the benefits of investments, and design our projects. This information will also help us target safety and mobility projects and improve our traffic models.”
–This seems like an excellent opportunity to stuff the ballet box. Get all your friends out there in September!
I did this 2 years ago – and was told that a new technology was going to be used this year so volunteers would no longer be necessary. Huh???
I should have clarified, but I rushed this story out between jury duty calls. This is the statewide count, which is different from Seattle’s counts. Seattle is transitioning to a more automated count methodology.
Todd:–This seems like an excellent opportunity to stuff the ballet box. Get all your friends out there in September!
Have ’em ride in circles, round the block…
“Weird. That’s the 15th couple riding a 1970 Hawthorne tandem Stingray I’ve counted this morning.”
On “stuffing the counts”: It is interesting that they do this in the middle of September when the days are shorter and it often beings the fall rain. On the other hand, if they counted school kids, it might make sense. But my general feeling is that they want the count to be low.
Now what is interesting is that once a date has been picked to see year/year trends. Although the weather does seem to play havoc with the numbers and if if we have a week like this one, the numbers could be quite a bit higher than last year, which if I remember correctly was cool and wet.
I believe the September counts are intended to catch school commuters and to avoid claims that the counts were inflated by choosing the best weather of summer. Late September may be a more accurate reflection of three-season or full-year commuters than mid-August would be.
“Just like motor vehicle counts, counting bicyclists and pedestrians at specific locations will help us to more accurately estimate demand, measure the benefits of investments, and design our projects. This information will also help us target safety and mobility projects and improve our traffic models.”
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Roland