Picture a vibrant street in downtown Marietta, Hapeville or East Point; historic Roswell or Norcross, or Midtown Atlanta. Humming with businesses, shops, restaurants, even residences. People walking, cars pulling in and out, delivery trucks pulled to the right, and more and more, bicycles. As it turns out, giving more people on bikes access to our most active streets is not just good for riders’ health, it’s good for business.
Economic opposition to bike lanes usually rests on the idea that it will make driving less convenient, or that having fewer drivers means fewer people will visit local businesses. But this simply isn’t true.
Though it may seem counterintuitive, overall traffic flow can improve with the addition of bike lanes, especially if turn lanes can be added as well. Cars tend to slow down to actual posted speeds, which results in a smoother overall flow. Reducing some of the reckless speeds of metro drivers also helps reduce crashes.
Bike lanes and sidewalks are also economic generators for local businesses. Survey results have shown that because people on bike or on foot spend less money on driving expenses (gas, maintenance, parking and insurance), they tend to use that extra money on more trips to local stores. On the other hand, drivers are less likely to spot and hop out at a new establishment, or run into a friend and decide to get coffee or dinner.
Seattle recently installed a bike lane on a major thoroughfare; that quarter, businesses on the street experienced a 350 percent increase, followed by a 400 percent bump the next. In New York, retail sales jumped 49 percent on streets where protected bike lanes were added. Other cities including Austin, Memphis, Chicago, San Francisco and Washington are also finding connections between economic growth and bicycling improvements. Surprisingly, streets with bike lanes are safer for drivers, too. In New York City, crashes with injuries on streets with protected bike lanes have fallen by 40 percent or more.
These bike- and pedestrian-friendly streets are good for residents’ bottom lines as well. Property values near bikeways average 5 percent higher than for properties that are not. Bankrate.com recently rated Georgia as having the highest car-ownership cost in the nation. Bike lanes can reduce the pressure on families to own multiple cars by making it possible for some members of the household to bike for transportation. A work or shopping trip becomes a found opportunity to get some exercise and save money.
Maybe it’s time to try a new strategy, even if it requires tools as cheap and low-tech as the bicycles in our garages. Safe and welcoming bikeways give people options — to escape Atlanta traffic, spend time with families and friends, get exercise while getting places, and support Atlanta’s wonderful businesses — by bike.
Rebecca Serna is executive director of the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition.
