A new report on bicycle commuting in the greater Philadelphia region (which includes Mercer County, New Jersey) finds that Philly has, per capita, twice as many bike commuters as the next-best big American city. Mode Shift: Philadelphia’s Two Wheeled Revolution In Progress finds that bike commuting in South Philly and Center City rivals that of Santa Barbara, California, and that over the past decade, eight of the nine counties in the greater Philadelphia region have also experienced growth in bicycle commuting rates. The full report is available here.
The report uses Bicycle Coalition counts and U.S. Census statistics to map and dissect bicycling in the city and region. Between 2000 and 2009, Philadelphia’s rate of bicycle commuting rose 151%. Camden (147%) and Delaware (126%) Counties experienced similar increases. Chester County’s bicycle commuting rate rose an astounding 488%. Only Gloucester County’s rate decreased during this ten-year period. However, despite these increases, only Mercer County’s bike commuter rate is above the national average, thanks in part to high bicycling rates in the Princeton, Trenton, and Hightstown areas.