[UPDATE, 12:28pm: We’ve just published a separate story with more results from this survey that were not initially released.]
Results have been released from a survey conducted by the Bicycle Transportation Alliance (BTA) last August. The intent of the survey, titled Bicycling Perceptions and Experiences in Oregon and Southwest Washington, was to garner feedback and data on a wide range of topics related to bicycling, advocacy, and the BTA itself.
The survey had 2,002 total respondents, 1,000 of which are current BTA members.
One of the main findings of the survey (and the one sure to make headlines) is that that 89% of respondents (the ones that ride bikes, 4 of respondents don’t ride at all) own at least one car. Here’s the graph:
The fact that people who regularly ride bikes also own cars has already been used by the BTA to lobby in support of a $19 motor vehicle registration fee to pay for the Sellwood Bridge.
BTA executive director Scott Bricker told us that the survey was an attempt to capture the feelings of the portion of the general population that cares about bicycling, and that he feels confident that it was successful in doing so.
The bulk of the survey (which is still online) focused on gauging perceptions of the BTA and feedback on the BTA’s program and advocacy priorities going forward. However, results of those questions have not been released (we’ve asked the BTA to see them, but have not yet heard back — UPDATE (11:05am) we have just gotten the full analysis and a statement about it from Bricker. We’ll do a separate about that portion of the survey results).
To administer and interpret the survey, the BTA hired Portland-based firm Inavero Institute for Service Research, which specializes in client satisfaction surveys.
Here are some key findings from one part of the survey:
- Eighty-nine percent of cyclists also own at least one automobile.
- Eugene rated their routes the safest and most accessible
- Eugene also hat the highest percentage of weekly trips taken by bicycle with 55% over Portland’s 43%
- The average number of bicycles owned increases as skill level improves [a good economic argument to encourage bicycling!].
- In Northeast and Southeast Portland, 15% of respondents say they don’t own a car.
- The percentage of trips taken on mass transit drops as the skill level of cyclist increases [likely because it’s cheaper and faster].
- As people’s perception of bike safety increased, so too did their amount of weekly bike trips (see chart below).
— Download the survey results summary and report (240kb PDF)