Bike Counters ($209,000)

Location: To be determined based on need and impact.

Cost: $209,000

Committee: Transportation, Streets, and Sidewalks

Short Description: Install permanent and short-term bike counters throughout the city. Bike counting stations collect data for the City to inform public policy and projects. Data can inform future bike lane construction and ensure the City meets the needs of all road users.

Long Description: Since 2002, Cambridge has maintained the Citywide Bicycle Count Program. The program counts bicyclists at 16 intersections every two years during typical commute times on September weekdays. This data is, as such, incomplete and therefore limits the impact of the data on City projects and overall safety of the City’s bike network.

Adding more bike counters will improve understanding of how people bike and where safety improvements are needed. Permanent bike counters will provide the City with more complete information of total biking activity like bike travel patterns and factors that impact biking. The short-term and moveable bike counters will allow the City to count data throughout the entire year instead of waiting every two years.

The additional data would then be used to better understand if existing bike related improvements are successful and help to plan for future bike related projects. The data would also be used for a more complete estimate for the citywide bike crash rate.

This project also proposes making bike count data publicly accessible through open data platforms. Data Transparency can help support future investments and inform community decision making.  

An example of a bike counter at Fresh Pond