Tucson’s Annual Bike Count This Week
October 26, 2009 | AZPM
Story by Robert Rappaport
Volunteers will be out in force this Tuesday through Thursday, counting area bicyclists. The Pima Association of Governments is coordinating Tucson’s 2nd Annual Regional Bicycle Count.
PAG Transportation Planner Ann Chanecka says the goal of the effort is to gather data for future planning of bike improvements along the roadways. “It’s important for us to understand how many bicyclists are out there, where they are, what kind of demographic population they’re at, what kind of riding behaviors they’re doing," she said. “All of these characteristics help us in deciding where to plan, where to invest in infrastructure improvements, what kind of education outreach we need to do. It helps us basically evaluate the improvements that have gone in as well.”
Last year, volunteers counted 53 locations and this year PAG is hoping they cover at least 62 locations. Each survey site is counted between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. and again from 4 p.m. until 6 p.m.
Last year’s survey counted more than 8,000 riders. Items taken into consideration include approximate age, gender, helmet use, wrong-way and sidewalk riding and more.
The 2008 survey showed the heaviest bike use near the University of Arizona, which also had the lowest amount of helmet use...just 28 percent.
In addition to PAG’s member jurisdictions, the Tucson-Pima County Bicycle Advisory Committee and the Greater Arizona Bicycling Association are also helping out with this year’s count, along with some UA students. The count area includes Tucson, South Tucson, Marana, Oro Valley, Green Valley and Sahuarita.
