Chicago Gets its First Bike Counter

Chicago just got its first bike counter, one small step toward making bike riders in the city more visible. As John Greenfield writes in Streetsblog Chicago, “The device is located in front of AMLI 808, an apartment building on the northwest corner of Chicago Avenue and Wells Street in River North, and was purchased and installed by the AMLI real estate company.” The apartment building is heavily transit-oriented, including only 16 car parking spaces for 318 apartments.

Bike counters matter because they offer concrete data to skeptics and opponents of bike infrastructure, helping cities gather real-time data about their cyclists. As Greenfield explains, “They offer an excellent rebuttal to people who oppose bike infrastructure upgrades with the argument, ‘Why should we do this? Nobody rides bikes here.’”

Greenfield describes several prior failed efforts to install bike counters in Chicago, efforts that were repeatedly frustrated by bureaucracy and other issues. Advocates hope this bike counter will be the first of many throughout the city.