Cycling Mob Cycling Forums - View Single Post - Davis,CA bicycle ridership down 5% over ten years

03-02-2005, 11:28 AM

"Ken Marcet" <kcmarcet@hotpop.com> wrote in message
news:38llchF5lfdqpU1@individual.net...
> Interesting figure, I wonder if this is a national trend or the
people of
> Davis are just getting lazy?
> http://www.californiaaggie.com/article/?id=7881
>
> Looks to me like the town wants to improve on those numbers.

It may be typical in college towns with a growing amount of off-campus
housing.

I went to college at a large university in Florida, where it was rare
for students not to bicycle around campus, and even into campus from
off-campus housing.. I was back there recently, and was surprised to
find that bicycle use was way down. The student population had gone
from around 27K when I was there, to 48K now, and newer buildings were
necessarily further away from the center of campus, but still within
easy cycling distance.

I think that what happened is that more and more students moved
off-campus to housing that was further away, and they drove to campus
every day, and took the bus within the campus (when it was too far to
walk between buildings). When I was there, even car commuters often
carried a bicycle with them to ride from the distant parking lots to
the center of campus.

The advent of the upright handlebar, mountain and hybrid bicycles,
versus the drop bar "ten speeds" made bicycling a much less attractive
warm-weather option as well, though much safer.

Part of the problem could also be the misperception by student's
parents that cycling is too dangerous. When I was in college, the
biggest problem was pedestrians getting hit by bicyclists.

03-02-2005, 11:28 AM	#15 (permalink)
scharf.steven@gmail.com Posts: n/a	Re: Davis,CA bicycle ridership down 5% over ten years "Ken Marcet" <kcmarcet@hotpop.com> wrote in message news:38llchF5lfdqpU1@individual.net... > Interesting figure, I wonder if this is a national trend or the people of > Davis are just getting lazy? > http://www.californiaaggie.com/article/?id=7881 > > Looks to me like the town wants to improve on those numbers. It may be typical in college towns with a growing amount of off-campus housing. I went to college at a large university in Florida, where it was rare for students not to bicycle around campus, and even into campus from off-campus housing.. I was back there recently, and was surprised to find that bicycle use was way down. The student population had gone from around 27K when I was there, to 48K now, and newer buildings were necessarily further away from the center of campus, but still within easy cycling distance. I think that what happened is that more and more students moved off-campus to housing that was further away, and they drove to campus every day, and took the bus within the campus (when it was too far to walk between buildings). When I was there, even car commuters often carried a bicycle with them to ride from the distant parking lots to the center of campus. The advent of the upright handlebar, mountain and hybrid bicycles, versus the drop bar "ten speeds" made bicycling a much less attractive warm-weather option as well, though much safer. Part of the problem could also be the misperception by student's parents that cycling is too dangerous. When I was in college, the biggest problem was pedestrians getting hit by bicyclists.