Mode Share

Submitted by Anonymous on Mon, 02/23/2009 - 10:42am

My son and I were waiting on his school bus this morning on Chicago Avenue. While waiting, we decided to count all the people traveling east for 10 minutes and figure out the mode split. I was a bit surprised, because I don’t normally think of Chicago Avenue as a bicycling street, but the numbers were decent, especially given that it was 12°F at the time. Anyway, here were the numbers:

Total Travelers: .40.......100%.........A-Trans Goal

Pedestrians:........6.........15%...........20%

Buses: ..............2...........5%...........15%* vehicles, not passengers

Bicycles: ...........3...........7.5% ........15%

Cars:.................29.........72.5%........ 50%

If I was able to count passengers, the numbers would skew, but it was a nice snapshot to know we are moving forward. Try it, do your own count and tell us what you found.

Do this with cell phones, too

Submitted by jorlovick (not verified) on Wed, 02/25/2009 - 11:19am.

Spoiled by the get up and go that bicycling always gives, I stuggled with waiting in the cold for transit (crash recovery time). I often passed this time by counting hand-held cell phones. I do this while breezing past traffic jams on my bike, too.

How many drivers with handheld phones can I count before the bus comes? How many will I bike by as we approach this red light?

Surprisingly, it has often been less than I had antipated!

Perhaps we are getting the message?!? Or has it been decided that using hands-free devices are equally distracting??