Since 2018, Bike Walk Tompkins and the Ithaca-Tompkins County Transportation Council have commissioned the Ithaca Bicycle Use and Attitudes Survey every two years. This survey of 300+ randomly-chosen residents provides the best picture of current bicycling use, interest and barriers to bicycling, and public opinion of bicycling in Ithaca and Tompkins County. Dive deep into the results by downloading the reports for each year.

2020 Survey

The 2020 Ithaca Bike Survey was conducted in May 2020, in the midst of the COVID-19 lockdown, to capture the use of bicycling pre-pandemic (before it was forgotten) and receive the latest information on how the pandemic has affected interest and barriers to bicycling.

Key Findings

• Before the pandemic, there was a trend away from using single occupant vehicles as a mode of transportation in the 2020 survey compared to the 2018 survey.

• About 20-25% of residents and 10-16% of students ride bikes daily or weekly during warmer months, with a significant increase coming from the student population, likely due to bikeshare.

• One in five residents and one in four students have used Lime, the local bikesharing system available in Ithaca.

• Ithaca's hills, weather, and feeling unsafe next to moving vehicles remain the top three barriers that discourage people from bicycling in and around Ithaca.

• Over 80% of students and residents agree that bicycling is a part of the transportation mix in and around Ithaca and that there should be more bike infrastructure on the streets, with agreement rates increasing compared to 2018.

2018 Survey

The 2018 Ithaca Bike Use and Attitudes Survey was the first comprehensive, randomized bicycling survey done in and around Ithaca. Through it, we found that there is a growing number of people bicycling and a majority of people are interested in bicycling more often. We also learned that a majority of Ithacans want more bike infrastructure, with a stronger preference towards infrastructure that minimizes exposure to moving vehicles.

The 2018 survey was supported in part by the Ithaca-Tompkins County Transportation Council and by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority.

Key Findings

• A majority of residents (53%) have biked in the past year, and a significant portion (20%) bike weekly or daily during the warmer months for errands.

• 55% of people are definitely or potentially interested in biking more often in and around Ithaca, and 48% of people would drive less often if they biked more often.

• A majority of people express that Ithaca’s hills and weather and feeling unsafe next to moving vehicles discourage them from bicycling in and around Ithaca.

• Over 80% of respondents preferred bicycling facilities that are separate from vehicle traffic or shared with low and slow vehicular traffic.

• 77% of people agree or strongly agree that there should be more bike infrastructure on local streets.