Portland’s bike numbers drop


New bike trip numbers could pose a problem for the city’s ambitious “Bike City USA” plan.

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A new report from the Portland Bureau of Transportation shows the number of bike trips in the city has dropped an average of 6% from the same period last year.

The numbers could work against Portland’s “Bike City USA” plan, which hopes to have the city’s residents commuting more frequently by bike by 2030.

Jim Sebastian, bicycle program coordinator for the district transportation department in Washington, D.C., says Portland is considered the “gold standard” in the United States for promoting biking as a viable alternative to driving. But the new numbers pose a challenge for Portland, which got a top “platinum” Bicycle Friendly Community rating from the League of American Bicyclists in 2008.

“I would be concerned,” says Sebastian, whose city increased its cycling numbers by 27 percent in 2009. “I would want to know more.”

Read the full story at the Willamette Week.

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