Bike Infrastructure and Economic Opportunity

[Updated August 6]

Is it getting easier to bike commute in your city?

There are a number of factors that determine how stressful or easy a city can be for a bike commuter. Now a study from the University of Minnesota is illustrating those factors in black and white.

Dense cities with lots of employment have a natural advantage, but cities that add bike facilities can have big impact on commuters. "Overall, Portland, Minneapolis and San Francisco offered the largest increases in bike access on special facilities. They each out average residents within 75 percent as many jobs on bike infrastructure as were available to a cyclist by biking on an unimproved road system," reports Angie Schmitt.