PORTLAND, Ore. — Do you like bikes? What about counting them? The Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) has a volunteer opportunity for you.
PBOT is looking for people to help with the annual bike count that is happening at over 300 locations this summer. The count, which started this week, allows PBOT to collect even more bicycle-specific data, and make changes and investments based on that information.
"When we take this data, we really use it to look at where we are seeing higher numbers of people cycling. Sometimes it shifts around the city," said Hannah Schafer, a spokesperson for PBOT.
"There are areas that maybe didn’t have a clear bike route, but we are seeing more and more people biking in those areas. That says to us, ]Oh, we need to identify, perhaps, some investments to create more separation and safety and call out that they are more people biking in this area,'" she said.
PBOT has found that bike use has been declining since 2015, with the number of people biking in the city dropping by 46% over the past six years. Now they will determine if the trend is continuing. Since 2014, the city's built more than 120 miles of new bikeways.
New to the bike count this year, PBOT will count electric scooters, skateboarders, and one-wheelers. A new micromobility tally has been added to the bottom of the count form to count these users. Volunteers will also count electric bikes and make note of whether a rider is wearing a helmet.
"Last year, we didn't do that in the count, so maybe it's just looking for them has made me aware of how many there are," said volunteer Gayle Marechal. "But I really think there are more e-bikes out there."
Marechal and his wife spent a couple of hours on Wednesday counting bikes on the corner on Northeast 53rd Avenue and Hoyt Street.
"A lot of people stop and ask. Here the traffic is kind of fast, but where it's a little slower people often stop and ask us," he said. "Then pedestrians ask too. They want to know what we're marking down on the sheets."
The count runs this wee through the end of September. Click here to sign up or to learn more.