Bike Lanes Boost Local Businesses

A study of Seattle's bike lanes and small businesses shows that bike lanes strengthen local business sales.

1 minute read

August 26, 2013, 7:00 AM PDT

By Alek Miller


Prospect Park Bike Lane

Eric Fischer / flickr

The debate over whether bike facilities are good or bad for business continues, with studies and plenty of conjecture on both sides. Citing a new report, Bikenomics: Measuring the Economic Impact of Bicycle Facilities on Neighborhood Business Districts, Phil Stamper notes that retail sales performance either remained stable or was much better after bike lanes were installed on several Seattle streets. This finding adds to evidence from a report from NYCDOT, "claiming that businesses saw an improvement in retail sales of up to 49 percent if they were near protected bicycle lanes. This data, however, related to a three-block strip of 9th Ave. Otherwise, there was only a 3 percent boost Manhattan-wide."

Tuesday, August 20, 2013 in ASLA's The Dirt blog

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