Reports Archive

2024


Global Risk & Opportunity Forecast Quarterly Reports (from S&P Global)

This quantitative and qualitative research allows PFB's member organizations to use data to navigate turbulent markets. This quarterly report provides an analysis of bicycle sales ...

Monthly Retail Sell-Through Reports

In partnership with Circana (previously called NPD Group), PeopleForBikes provides members with exclusive access to monthly reports on U.S. retail sales and inventory figures which ...

PeopleForBikes Business Intelligence Hub

The PeopleForBikes Business Intelligence Hub is a dashboard available to members for daily, weekly, and monthly insights for the bicycle industry covering ridership, retail sales a ...

Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center

The Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center's (PBIC) mission is to improve the quality of life in communities through the increase of safe walking and bicycling as a viable means ...

Bicycle Industry Confidence Survey

PeopleForBikes conducts a semi-annual survey to gauge overall market sentiment from bicycle industry members. This research identifies threats and opportunities for the bike indust ...

Winter Maintenance Resource Guide

Toole Design, an urban planning firm, provides guidance on how to maintain biking and walking facilities in winter weather. ...

Legislative Strategies for Safe and Connected Bike Infrastructure

Strategies and statistics to help policymakers and advocates accelerate the construction of great places to ride bikes through state and local funding for bike infrastructure, Comp ...

The Atlas of Sustainable City Transport

A data dashboard that measures nine transportation indicators including access to protected bike lanes in cities around the world. ...

Parking Mandates Map

A map of policy reforms implemented in cities and regions across the country to reduce or eliminate parking mandates. Eliminating parking mandates supports bicycling by reducing sp ...

State Level Participation Reports

The 2023 State Level Participation Reports quantify engagement in distinct cycling disciplines (riding on paved surfaces, natural surfaces, indoors, etc.) segmented by demographic ...

BikeMaps.org

A crowdsourced, worldwide map of bicycling safety events including crashes, near-misses, hazards and reported thefts. ...

Outride Research Resource Library

Library of research on physical activity and health outcomes related to youth and bicycling. ...

Summary of Use Designation of Class 1 E-Bike Impacts within the Pines to Mines trail Project in Tahoe National Forest

Key findings from the Tahoe National Forest's Decision Notice/Finding of No Significant Impact and final Environmental Assessment for the Pines to Mines Trail Project. ...

Safety and User Perceptions of Auxiliary Bike Lanes

A survey of 612 drivers and bicyclists in Oregon indicated strong support for building auxiliary bike lanes, a.k.a. bike turnouts, to improve safety on shared streets with restrict ...

List of U.S. Bike Advocacy Groups

List of city, state, and regional bicycling, multimodal transportation, and trail advocacy organizations nationwide. ...

Bicycle Network Analysis (BNA)

The Bicycle Network Analysis (BNA) software measures the quality and connectivity of bike networks in 2500+ cities worldwide using OpenStreetMap and census data. ...

Use of Electric Bicycles Within the National Park System

In compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the National Park Service ...

E-Bike Legislative Toolkit

To support the sustainable and safe growth of electric bicycles, PeopleForBikes produced a first-of-its-kind E-Bike Legislative Toolkit. Designed for legislators, city leaders, lan ...

2023


Middle school cycling program is associated with improved mental health and wellbeing in adolescents during COVID-19

Riding for Focus (R4F) is a 6–8 week cycling education program designed to equip middle school adolescents with basic cycling skills. This study quantifies the change in adolescent ...

Biking the Goods: How North American Cities Can Prepare for and Promote Large-Scale Adoption of E-Cargo Bikes

This paper aims to inform planners and policymakers about what e-cargo bikes are and how they have been successfully deployed in North America to replace ICE vehicles. The report a ...

The Light Electric Vehicle Education + Research Institute (LEVER) research website

The Light Electric Vehicle Education and Research (LEVER) Institute is a consortium of Light Electric Vehicle (LEV) researchers and educators. The group's research page includes li ...

PAC Topline Report

This annual trend study on bicycle participation from the Physical Activity Council measures cycling participation for Americans ages 6+, and includes estimates for the years 2017 ...

Great Smoky Mountain National Park Mountain Bike and Electric Bicycle Resource FAQ

Summary of the National Park Service's environmental assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) as related to mountain bike and e-bike use in the proposed Wears Valley ...

Attracting and Keeping New Riders

This report describes how to recruit, retain, and reactivate bicycle riders. Produced for PeopleForBikes by NAXION Thinking, this research used a series of 1:1 interviews conducte ...

PAC Single Sport Reports

The Single Sport Report series is produced by the Physical Activity Council (PAC). Reports present data for invididual types of cycling for the years 2017 to 2022: riding on paved ...

Arrested Mobility: Barriers to Walking, Biking, and E-Scooter Use in Black Communities in the United States

A report on how embedded structural racism in transportation policies and practices across the U.S. limits mobility choices for people of color. ...

eMTB Policy Database

A searchable list of all existing eMTB and e-bike policies across the United States. Users can discover where e-bikes and eMTBs are allowed on trails, as well as what class(es) of ...

E-Bike Environment and Economics Impact Assessment Calculator

Use this calculator to estimate the environmental and economic impacts of achieving mode shift targets of replacing car trips with electric bicycle trips in a specific city. The ca ...

Vermont eMTB Pilot Project Study on Perceptions + Attitudes Summary Report

Key findings from the Univ. of Vermont Center for Rural Studies pilot project examining the use of Class 1 pedal-assist electric mountain bikes on natural surface singletrack trail ...

Electric Bicycle Incentive Toolkit

Lessons, best practices, and sample legislation for bike advocates, industry members, and policymakers to create electric bicycle incentive programs. ...

Electric Mountain Bike Pilot Project Toolkit

A toolkit to help land management agencies, city councils, policymakers, and advocates implement pilot programs to evaluate perceptions of eMTB use on natural surface trails. ...

The Safe Systems Pyramid: A new framework for traffic safety

Applying a public health lens to transportation led to a new framework called the Safe Systems Pyramid. The Safe Systems Pyramid helps identify the road safety strategies that are ...

Decline in Independent Activity as a Cause of Decline in Children's Mental Well-being: Summary of the Evidence

Academic commentary linking worsening children's mental health to the lack of opportunities for children to play independently and citing traffic safety as one of the major barrier ...

Quantifying disparities in access to recreational opportunities by alternative modes of transport

This research evaluating access to recreational facilities based on travel mode, travel distance, and other factors inspired the measurement framework applied in PeopleForBikes' Re ...

2022


Study of the E-Bike Curious

This study details information about those who have an interest in purchasing an e-bike with a focus on how to encourage the e-bike curious to purchase. This study is available to ...

Biennial PFB Bicycling Participation Report

The PeopleForBikes Bicycling Participation Study is the a census of bicycling activity in America. Conducted every-other-year since 2014, this 2022 report contains historic demogra ...

Advancing North American Design Practices to Mitigate Bicycle Right-Hook Conflicts

This study used video analytics from 116 intersections in 10 cities to identify infrastructure design features that reduce right-hook crashes, which include protected bike lanes an ...

Tahoe National Forest Electric Mountain Bike FAQ and Resource

Key takeaways related to electric mountain bikes from the environmental assessment for the East Zone Connectivity Project in Tahoe National Forest including a Decision Notice and F ...

2021


PeopleForBikes COVID Participation Study

PeopleForBikes launched a study of participation at the end of 2020 to better understand how personal riding habits changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results are available ...

Where Do We Go From Here? Breaking Down Barriers to Bicycling in the U.S.

Based on input from focus groups in ten cities, this report identifies barriers that prevent people from bicycling. The report concludes with five recommendations for expanding acc ...

Protected Bike Lane Inventory [Archived]

PeopleForBikes' inventory of protected bike lanes in the United States. The inventory was last updated in 2021 and is no longer maintained. Please reference our Infrastructure Proj ...

2020


Economic Impacts of Bicycle and Pedestrian Street Improvements

Research quantifying the economic impacts of bicycle and pedestrian street improvements in six U.S. cities: Indianapolis, Memphis, Minneapolis, Portland (OR), San Francisco, and Se ...

E-Bike Advocacy Guide for Retailers

Guidance for bike retailers on how to advocate for policies that support electric bicycles. With clear rules on how and where to ride an e-bike, everyone stands to benefit, includi ...

Speeds of Young E-Cyclists on Urban Streets and Related Risk Factors: An Observational Study in Israel

A survey of bicyclists on urban streets in Israel found that young electric bicycle riders rode 6-9 km/h faster on average than conventional bicycle riders but stayed under the leg ...

Evaluation of the potential of classic and electric bicycle commuting as an impetus for the transition towards environmentally sustainable cities: A case study of the university campuses in Liege, Belgium

A study of university students and staff in Belgium found that people take greater satisfaction riding bikes than driving a car or riding the bus. Respondents also reported greate ...

eMTB Trail Etiquette Guidelines

A brief guide to eMTB trail etiquette that summarizes what eMTBs are, where to ride eMTBs, advice for land managers, and how to expand eMTB trail access. ...

2019


Using Connectivity Measures to Evaluate and Build Connected Bicycle Networks

This info brief provides an overview of methods for measuring bicycle network quality and demonstrates the use of PeopleForBikes' Bicycle Network Analysis tool to evaluate the impa ...

Physical activity of electric bicycle users compared to conventional bicycle users and non-cyclists: Insights based on health and transport data from an online survey in seven European cities

Surveying 10,000 bicycle riders in seven European cities, researchers found that, compared to conventional bicycle riders, electric bicycle riders take longer trips, experience sim ...

E-bike safety. A review of Empirical European and North American Studies

This white paper synthesizes recent and emerging research on electric bicycle safety compared to conventional bicycles, and reviews evidence on differences between the two predomin ...

Mountain biker attitudes and perceptions of eMTBs (electric‑mountain bikes)

This study analyzed social media discussions to identify fears, concerns and prejudices surrounding eMTBs. Themes included confusion over eMTB capabilities, concerns about trail da ...

The E-Bike Potential: Estimating the Effect of E-Bikes on Person Miles Travelled and Greenhouse Gas Emissions

This white paper explores the how mode shift to electric bicycles could impact person miles traveled (PMT) and greenhouse gas emissions and creates a model for PMT and greenhouse g ...

Pedal-Assist Mountain Bikes: A Pilot Study Comparison of the Exercise Response, Perceptions, and Beliefs of Experienced Mountain Bikers

This study compared the average heart rate for eMTB and conventional MTB riders and found that the average heart rate during eMTB use was 94% of the average heart rate during conve ...

How E-Bike Incentive Programs are Used to Expand the Market

The goal of this white paper is to provide policymakers, agency leads, and local community leaders with a range of techniques to develop and structure e-bike incentive programs to ...

2018


Activating Support for Building Bike Infrastructure

Policymakers, planners, and advocates can use these talking points and templates based on consumer research to garner support for bike infrastructure among the general public. ...

Engage, Plan, Build, Measure: A Guide For City Leaders

This guide identifies best practices for accelerating the development of bike infrastructure and explains how city leaders across many sectors play a critical role. ...

Effect of E-Bike Versus Bike Commuting on Cardiorespiratory Fitness in Overweight Adults: A 4-Week Randomized Pilot Study

Researchers found comparable fitness gains among study participants commuting on an electric bicycle compared to a conventional bicycle due to the higher biking speeds and elevatio ...

The Safety of E-Bikes in The Netherlands

This study found that electric and conventional bicycle users are equally likely to be involved in a crash, with comparable crash severity, but the overall impact of electric bicyc ...

A North American Survey of Electric Bicycle Owners

This survey of electric bicycle owners builds upon a prior survey and finds similar results. Electric bicycles enable more people to ride a bicycle, many of whom are incapable of o ...

Health benefits of electrically-assisted cycling: a systematic review

This literature review found that while electric bicycles require less physical activity than conventional bicycles, electric bicycle riders still experience moderate intensity act ...

2017


eMTB Intercept Study

PeopleForBikes surveyed trail users at four trailheads in Fruita, CO seeking to understand their perceptions of eMTBs, to help land managers decide where, when, and how to manage e ...

“Cycling was never so easy!” An analysis of e-bike commuters' motives, travel behaviour and experiences using GPS-tracking and interviews

A study of 24 electric bicycle riders in the Netherlands found that electric bicycles enabled users to travel longer distances, and therefore serve as a viable option for trips tha ...

Physical activity when riding an electric assisted bicycle

This research found that participants' commute trips on electric bicycles were shorter and lower intensity compared to conventional bicycles. However, electric bicycles still produ ...

Comparing physical activity of pedal-assist electric bikes with walking and conventional bicycles

This study found electric bicycle riders had shorter travel times and reduced exertion compared to conventional bicycle riders but still experienced moderate or vigorous physical a ...

Association between active commuting and incident cardiovascular disease, cancer, and mortality: prospective cohort study.

A study of over 250,000 people in the UK found that bike commuting is associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer, and overall mortality. ...

Better Bicycling, Better Business: A Guide for Retailers

This guide describes five easy ways bicycle retailers can get involved in bicycling projects in the community, along with creative ideas to get more people riding, more often. ...

Effects of active commuting and leisure-time exercise on fat loss in women and men with overweight and obesity: a randomized controlled trial.

Why ride to work? This 2017 study finds that biking to work burns as much fat as spending 40 minutes at the gym five days a week. ...

Defining Connected Bike Networks

This info brief defines bicycle networks and their role supporting bicycling in cities. ...

Evaluation of Electric Bike Use at Three Kaiser Permanente NW Employment Centers in Portland Metro Region

Study participants were issued an electric bicycle for 10 weeks, then surveyed to evaluate how their perceptions and levels of cycling changed. After receiving electric bicycles, p ...

2016


Using naturalistic data to assess e-cyclist behavior

In this study of 12 riders on bicycles outfitted with monitoring devices, electric bicycles were ridden faster on average than traditional bicycles and interacted differently with ...

Effective Study Tours: Turning Inspiration Into Action

Guidance on how to organize and lead effective study tours that inspire city leaders and key stakeholders to support better bicycling infrastructure and policies in their home citi ...

Associations between Recreational and Commuter Cycling, Changes in Cycling, and Type 2 Diabetes Risk: A Cohort Study of Danish Men and Women.

A longitudinal study revealed that both commuting and recreation bicycling are associated with a decreased risk of type II diabetes. ...

Pedelecs as a physically active transportation mode

Study participants were instructed to commute via electric bicycle three times a week for four weeks, which resulted in improvements in some cardiometabolic risk factors and helped ...

E-bikes in the Mainstream: Reviewing a Decade of Research

This literature review covers the different types of electric bicycles, user demographics, global sales, impacts on travel behavior, and the health, safety, and environmental impli ...

Quick Builds For Better Streets: A New Project Delivery Model for U.S. Cities

This report draws on the experiences of Austin, Chicago, Denver, Memphis, New York, Pittsburgh, San Francisco and Seattle to identify the nine elements of successful quick-build bi ...

2015


Building Equity – Race, ethnicity, class, and protected bike lanes: An idea book for fairer cities

PeopleForBikes interviewed planners, leaders and activists in communities of color around the country to identify best practices for building equity into protected bike lanes. ...

Trail Use and Management of Electric Mountain Bikes: Land Manager Survey Results

A survey of land managers to capture their experiences and concerns with electric mountain bikes (eMTBs) and understand what kind of information about eMTBs would support trail man ...

A Comparison of Environmental Impacts from Mountain Bicycles, Class 1 Electric Mountain Bicycles, and Motorcycles: Soil Displacement and Erosion on Bike-Optimized Trails in a Western Oregon Forest

This study measured soil displacement and erosion resulting from traditional mountain bicycles, electric mountain bicycles (eMTBs), and off-road motorcycles (i.e. dirt bikes), and ...

Correcting bias in self-rated quality of life: an application of anchoring vignettes and ordinal regression models to better understand QoL differences across commuting modes

Bicycle commuters report a higher quality of life and greater satisfaction with their health than public transportation users, walkers, and motor vehicle users. ...

Electric Bicycles: Public Perceptions & Policy

This report shares results from a survey asking 700+ bicyclists and bike advocates how they perceive electric bicycles, and provides background information on electric bicycle use ...

Risky riding: Naturalistic methods comparing safety behavior from conventional bicycle riders and electric bike riders

Research finding that electric and conventional bicycle riders display comparable safety behavior and so should be regulated comparably. ...

2014


Systematic review and meta-analysis of reduction in all-cause mortality from walking and cycling and shape of dose response relationship

Walking and cycling have shown beneficial effects on population risk of all-cause mortality (ACM). This paper reviews the evidence and quantifies these effects, adjusted for other ...

2012


Trade-Offs Between Commuting Time and Health-Related Activities

A 2012 study found that the greatest percentage of time spent commuting comes from less time spent sleeping. ...

Understanding Barriers to Bicycling Project (Final Report)

Participants in focus groups made up of Portland residents who identify as non-white detail reasons why they have not ridden a bicycle. ...

Physical Activity and Performance at School: A Systematic Review of the Literature Including a Methodological Quality Assessment

Participation in physical activity is positively related to academic performance in children. ...

Health Cobenefits and Transportation-Related Reduction in Greenhouse Gas Emissions in the San Francisco Bay Area

A San Francisco Bay Area study found that increasing biking and walking from 4 to 24 minutes a day on average would reduce cardiovascular disease and diabetes by 14% and decrease G ...

Commuting distance, cardiorespiratory fitness, and metabolic risk.

Limited evidence exists on the metabolic and cardiovascular risks of commuting by vehicle, a habitual form of sedentary behavior. This study examines the association between commut ...

Do health benefits outweigh the costs of mass recreational programs? An economic analysis of four Ciclovia programs

This study is the first to provide evidence, from a public health perspective, of the cost–benefit assessment of Ciclovía programs. This analysis found that the Ciclovía programs w ...

2011


Active Commuting to School and Cognitive Performance in Adolescents

Female students who walk or bike to school perform better on tests. ...

The health risks and benefits of cycling in urban environments compared with car use: health impact assessment study

A 2011 study of Barcelona's bike sharing program, Bicing, found that the health benefits of using the system outweigh the risks by a ratio of 77 to one. ...

2010


Spoiling air pollution dispersion: A numerical investigation of exhaust plume dispersion from cars with rear spoilers

Car spoilers tilted high in the air can increase the exhaust reaching the head height of cyclists and pedestrians by as much as 57 percent compared to car spoilers tilted down. ...

Do the health benefits of cycling outweigh the risks?

The benefits of increased physical activity from shifting from driving to bicycling (3 to 14 months gained) outweigh the effects of increased inhaled air pollution (0.8 to 40 days ...

Walking and cycling to health: a comparative analysis of city, state, and international data

Researchers reviewed data from all 50 U.S. states and 47 of the 50 largest U.S. cities and found that obesity and diabetes rates are lower in places with higher bicycling and walki ...

2009


Active Commuting and Cardiovascular Disease Risk: The CARDIA Study

A study of nearly 2,400 adults found that those who biked to work were fitter, leaner, less likely to be obese, and had better triglyceride levels, blood pressure, and insulin leve ...

2008


Walking, Cycling, and Obesity Rates

Countries with the highest levels of cycling and walking generally have the lowest obesity rates. ...

Adolescent Physical Activities as Predictors of Young Adult Weight

Adolescents who participate in bicycling, in-line skating, or skateboarding more than four times a week are 48% less likely to be overweight as adults. ...

2007


Comparison of cyclists' and motorists' utilitarian physicalactivity at an urban university

College students who use bicycles as transport accumulate more minutes of daily physical activity than students who use motorized means and are more likely to achieve public health ...

Effect of the Physical Activities in Leisure Time and Commutingto Work on Mental Health

A 30-minute round trip bicycle commute is associated with better mental health in men. ...

2006


Active Travel to School and Cardiovascular Fitness in Danish Children and Adolescents

Children who cycle to school have greater cardiorespiratory fitness that those who travel to school by car, bus, or walking. ...

Exposure visualisation of ultrafine particle counts in a transport microenvironment.

Cyclists are exposed to less pollution than taxi or bus passengers. ...

2005


Physical Activity and Active Commuting to Elementary School

Fifth-grade students who regularly biked or walked to school accumulated an additional 24 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity per day. ...

2004


Comparison of air pollution exposure for five commuting modes in Sydney?car, train, bus, bicycle, and walking.

Cycling and walking commuters have significantly lower levels of exposure to harmful pollutants like benzene compared with car commuters, and significantly lower levels of exposure ...

2001


Differences in cyclists and car drivers exposure to air pollution from traffic in the city of Copenhagen.

On the same urban route, car drivers were exposed to more airborne pollution than cyclists, despite the cyclists' higher respiration rates. ...

2000


Cost-effectiveness of lifestyle and structured exercise interventions in sedentary adults: Results of project ACTIVE

It costs three to four times more to enroll a sedentary adult in a structured exercise program than to teach them how to integrate moderate-intensity physical activity into their l ...

All-cause mortality associated with physical activity during leisure time, work, sports, and cycling to work

In a study of more than 30,000 people, those who bicycled to work were 40% less likely to die during follow-up, regardless of how much physical activity they got outside of commuti ...

1999


Comparison of lifestyle and structured interventions to increase physical activity and cardiorespiratory fitness: a randomized trial

Lifestyle physical activity [like biking for transportation] is as effective as a structured exercise program in improving physical activity, cardiorespiratory fitness, and blood p ...

1996


Impact of Changes in Transportation and Commuting Behaviors During the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta on Air Quality and Childhood Asthma

When car travel restrictions reduced morning traffic by 23% during the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, ozone concentrations decreased 28% and acute care visits for asthma decreased 41%. ...

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