Increasing the number of Traverse City’s biking Betty’s
Male bicycle riders typically out number female riders (2:1) in the United States. In Europe, that ratio is much closer. According to How to Get More Bicyclists on the road, 55% of all riders are women in the Netherlands and in Germany 49% are women. Of course, daily bicycle commuters also represent 27 % and 12 % of all trips made by bike in the two countries respectively.
In the United States, we simply have a lot of latent opportunity irregardless of gender.
What difference does gender make?
The city of Chengdu, China remains fairly bike friendly despite increases in car use over the last decade. No idea of the numbers, but in May 2009 female bike commuters still represented a large portion of riders. (photo: Gary L Howe)
This morning’s post about San Francisco’s increased number of female riders is directly related to the city embracing priorities aimed at providing infrastructure for bicycle commuters & promoting it as a viable option. In the last five years, the city has seen a jump of over 60% in riders. You don’t get those bumps without increasing key elements: perceived safety, actual convenience, broad acceptance.
In the above mentioned article, published in Scientific America last fall, the argument was made that to measure the bike-ability of a location, just look at the number of female riders. The reason being that women tend to value the above 3 elements more than men.
As the author explains, “Women are considered an “indicator species” for bike-friendly cities for several reasons. First, studies across disciplines as disparate as criminology and child rearing have shown that women are more averse to risk than men. In the cycling arena, that risk aversion translates into increased demand for safe bike infrastructure as a prerequisite for riding. Women also do most of the child care and household shopping, which means these bike routes need to be organized around practical urban destinations to make a difference.”
Safety in numbers
Once you have those elements, things tend to snowball and provide positive feedback loops throughout the community. The more women that believe that riding is safe, convenient and accepted, the more riders a city will have. Then, actual safety really increases as collision rates decline ‘with increases in the numbers of people walking or bicycling’.
The basic premise being: with more cyclists on the road, driver awareness increases via the increased social interaction between the people in cars and on top of bikes.
Seems to make sense. What do you think? Do we need more women at the planning table?
What do you think the male:female split is for bicycle commuters in Traverse City?
A question for everyone, but particular the women, where does Traverse City need improve to help make cycling a real transportation option for daily errands and commuting?
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