Hanna Pfeiffer, JD Anticipated May 2024, Law and Public Policy Scholar
Rankings of the best cities for cycling in America consistently put Philadelphia in the top 20. LawnStarter ranks Philadelphia sixteenth, Bicycling.com has it at fifteenth, People for Bikes at fourteenth (in the 95th percentile!), and Explore Worldwide puts Philadelphia at third. With some implementable changes, Philadelphia could quickly reach first place.
Ranking systems use a variety of metrics to assess cities, but the amount of cycling infrastructure, the number of cyclists, and cyclist safety statistics are always included. These metrics are interconnected—the more infrastructure there is, the safer cyclists are, and the safer cyclists are, the more people feel comfortable cycling around. The more people feel comfortable biking, the more people will choose to bike, which increases safety even further through the “safety in numbers” effect. Philadelphia must improve in these areas to increase its cycling status.
Why is Cycling Important?
The benefits of bicycling are manifold. Cycling helps both the health of the individual cyclist and the health of the city as a whole. Cycling can burn between 400 and 1000 calories per hour and has proven benefits for heart, lung, vascular, and mental health.
Cycling is also an equitable means of transportation. Owning a bike costs between $100 and $350 per year, depending on the level of maintenance needed. According to AAA, average car ownership in 2022 cost $10,728 a year. In comparison, public transit in Philadelphia costs about $1200 for a year’s worth of monthly passes. Improving cycling infrastructure improves access to the city for people who cannot or choose not to own a car or want to save money on transit.
Additionally, bicycles take up less space on roads than cars, meaning that there is less congestion, less space is needed for parking, and more space can be devoted to things like sidewalk eateries that became so popular during the pandemic. Lastly, more people biking means that there are fewer people in petroleum-fueled cars and fewer smog-creating emissions. As concern over the environment grows, more people will want to bike. It is important that Philadelphia has the infrastructure ready to meet demand.
What Does Philadelphia Have Going for It?
Beyond cycling infrastructure, the number of cyclists, and cyclist safety metrics, ranking systems usually look at a few additional variables, including weather, geography, commute time, and access to essentials via bike. Philadelphia’s features give it natural advantages over other American cities in these latter categories. Its narrow streets, high population density, fairly warm weather, and supportive cycling community all make it capable of reaching the top spot.
Philadelphia’s old, narrow streets are an asset to cyclists. Narrow streets force cars to slow down more effectively than speed limits. Slower cars decrease the chances of a crash and lessen the severity of crashes when they occur. This makes side streets ideal places for biking. Narrow streets also allow for dense development, meaning that essentials like groceries, work, doctors, parks, restaurants, and schools are usually within a short bike ride.
Philadelphia also has several scenic biking trails, like the Schuylkill and Delaware River trails. Lastly, Philadelphia boasts a supportive culture around cycling. Philadelphia has an affordable, well-implemented bike share program, Indego, and activist groups like Philadelphia Bicycle Coalition push the city to make improvements. Philadelphia has adopted a Vision Zero Initiative and Pedestrian and Bicycle Plan, both of which set goals and outline traffic and cycling safety strategies.
What Would It Take to Push Philadelphia to #1?
Philadelphia primarily needs to increase safety for cyclists by building more bike-friendly infrastructure. Thirty-five cyclists have been killed on Philadelphia roads in the past decade, and more than 4,000 have been injured. Adding more parking-protected bike lanes is the best strategy to improve cyclist safety. Parking-protected bike lanes place a bicycle lane between the curb and the parking lane. The parked cars provide a buffer between bikes and fast-moving traffic. A review of the parking protected bike lanes that the City has already installed, including those on JFK Boulevard and Market Street, showed a decrease in crashes, a decrease in fatalities, a decrease in speed, and a 96% increase in the number of cyclists.
Parking-protected bike lanes also have the added benefit of preventing cars from parking in the bike lanes. Philadelphia’s many miles of unprotected bike lanes are plagued by drivers illegally using them as additional parking or loading zones. When cars park in bike lanes, cyclists must swerve into traffic to get around them, increasing the risk of injury.
The city cannot make this change on its own. Unfortunately, Philadelphia’s efforts to install parking-protected bike lanes have been stymied by the Pennsylvania State Legislature, which must act to change Pennsylvania’s definition of a “curb.” Many of the main roads in Philadelphia are State-owned, and state law requires cars to be parked no more than 12 inches from a curb. Hence, parking-protected bike lanes cannot be installed on state-owned roads until the legislature updates its definition.
Improved bike lanes improve safety on roads, but Philadelphia also needs to improve safety in intersections. Safety could be improved by limiting right-turn-on-red. Intersections are the most dangerous places for cyclists due to unpredictable vehicle behavior. Over half of cyclist injuries occur at intersections. Bikers ride on the right-hand side of the road, and if they are continuing straight while a car turns right, the driver could easily crush the cyclist.
Philadelphia can easily accomplish this change if the city adds more no-turn-on-red signs, since by statute, the city controls the placement and number of such signs. The signs cost only $30 to $150. You can request that the city add a new no turn on red signs at this website.
Conclusion
Philadelphia’s rise to the top cycling city in America should start with infrastructure improvements that improve safety and consequently increase the number of people who feel comfortable biking daily. If the State Legislature acts to allow parking-protected bike lanes and if Philadelphia limits right-on-red, it will take a huge step towards being the best city for cycling in the nation.