- June 27th, 2022
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According to Statista's Global Consumer Survey, 76% of American commuters use their own car to move between home and work – making it by far the most popular mode of transportation. And while they are gaining in popularity since 2019, only 11% of the survey's 5,649 respondents use public transportation, and 10% ride a bicycle.
This article from World Economic Forum cites several factors contributing to the low adoption of bicycles as a means of everyday transportation. For one, Americans are used to commuting longer distances than people in most European countries, automatically ruling out the bike for many. In Germany, for example, 23% of commuters take a bike to work, school or university, and another 26% use public transportation, with 65% using their own car. And in the Netherlands – arguably the country most famous for its love of bicycles – 36% of commuters take their bike, while 56% opt for their car.
Another contributing factor according to World Economic Forum is that many major cities in the U.S. aren't exactly "bike-friendly" – with only three American cities making a recent list of the top 50 most bicycle-friendly cities in the world which accounted for infrastructure, safety, usage, and weather.