Beyond the Gut – Bike Data!
It was only a short time ago that the bike advocacy community was a "start-up" in Silicon Valley speak - a passionate and committed band of folks trying to start a nonprofit. While we retain, fortunately, the band of committed and passionate bicyclists, SVBC is no longer a scrappy start-up.This means how we do what we do is becoming more sophisticated. Gone - or rather, going - are the days of deciding priorities based on upon well-informed gut instincts. We now have the resources to collect data!From San Jose’s 2015 Vision Zero Plan telling us exactly where the most bike collisions occur, to the County Public Health Departments of Santa Clara and San Mateo’s (PDFs) reports detailing the causes of bike collisions, the work of bike advocates in Silicon Valley is now better informed by real data.And we now have one more piece of data – The Silicon Valley Bike Vision and The Index.Many of you are familiar with Joint Venture Silicon Valley’s annual Index. The eagerly anticipated report outlines, year over year, various indicators such has housing affordability, venture capitalist funding, number of foreign-born residents, college degrees, traffic delays, and more. It has become the go-to data repository for Silicon Valley to track and measure success over time.We have some great news. The Silicon Valley Index will now track the bike metrics released in the Bike Vision!This past year, Joint Venture approached SVBC with the question SVBC grapples with every day – Why aren't more people riding, how do we fix that, and how can we, Joint Venture help? Out of that conversation, the Bike Vision report was published.The Bike Vision includes three main metrics that are key to tracking success in the bike world:
- Safety: The number of bike collisions
- Ridership: Rates at which folks are riding for every day use
- Infrastructure: The percent of roadways covered by bike infrastructure and the types of infrastructure used
With the collection of this data on an annual basis, SVBC and other bike advocates will be able to measure success over time and use that information to better advocate for an improved community, economy, and environment through bicycling.Thank you to Joint Venture for including the bicycle in the annual Indicators report!
