Raise the Hammer

Please note, sir, this varies greatly regionally.

1% is a correct ballpark as an average of many car-optimized suburbs. But it is not correct for near-downtown and near-McMaster locations where more than 1% take the bike. See how busy Toronto's College Street bikelane is -- bike congestion often numbering dozens of bikes during peak.

BUT

Consider the shocking unexpected success of Hamilton's SoBi, 5,000+ members in a bikeshare service area of ~75,000 able-bodied people. An 'apparent' 7% market share (estimated).

This suggests more than 1% of SoBi's population coverage are using bikes! The number was 7%, so even if you were being extremely generous with playing the numbers by breaking out commuters versus recreational/tourists (which we have relatively few outside major events), you can only bump the number down so much, but not all the way down to 1%. And that doesn't even count people using owned bikes (though many SoBi members, like myself, also own a bike too, and also own a car, as I myself do).

It is really hard to predict/measure the number of people willing to bike uphill, but there are cities in certain parts of the world, where, indeed, yes, more than 1% do for a long "Claremont Access" journey, for a specific special event that's right at the top. But that's in a very Copahagenized city. Though my opinion is, Hamilton needs 10 years of bike improvements before we even begin to approach 1% of people willing to bike up a mountain access road for a mountain-top event. Cannon-style separated bike lanes for one of those overengineered mountain accesses (Claremont Access). But we have to spend taxes on more important bike infrastructure improvements first, than bike lanes that will be quieter than Cannon -- before it becomes wortwhile -- but it could definitely be on a 20 year Master Plan somewhere. Imagine replacing one lane with one of those fancy bike lanes overlooking the edge, with the green/blue paint markings, and a couple of drinking fountains enroute, plus a few rest-areas as lookout "bays" (scenic views). Car owners (I own a car too) would cry foul, but let's face it -- Claremont Access is greatly overengineered. We need more separate routes/modals of accesses, and at multiple points, not just a few large accesses.

Both parties may be right in different ways, data is missing from both of your exchanges.

Comment edited by mdrejhon on 2015-07-21 10:58:01