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Talking Headways Podcast: A Deep Dive Into Biking and Walking Census Data

2:37 PM EDT on May 12, 2014

We were so excited about the first-ever Census report exclusively on biking and walking that we devoted this entire episode of the Talking Headways podcast to an interview with its author, Brian McKenzie.

Bike commuting is up 60 percent since 2000, the Census shows, and people with low incomes are by far the biggest proportion of the riding public.

People who bike and walk are hungry for reliable data. While government statistics on how much we drive are easy enough to come by, where would you go to find out how much we're walking and biking? Strava? No. The Census is a better gauge of how active transportation patterns are shifting.

The Census data does have its limitations, and Brian talks candidly about those. But the data sheds light on who's walking and biking for transportation, and how that's changing in specific places.

Go on a dive deep with us. Here is a full half-hour just for you bike-ped dataheads. Enjoy. And talk to us in the comments.

PS: Talking Headways is available on iTunes or Stitcher or by signing up for our RSS feed.

PPS: Many thanks to those of you who have already donated to our spring pledge drive -- especially those who specifically mentioned that you enjoy the podcast. Keep it coming!

Tanya Snyder@
Tanya became Streetsblog's Capitol Hill editor in September 2010 after covering Congress for Pacifica Radio’s Washington bureau and for public radio stations around the country. She lives car-free in a transit-oriented and bike-friendly neighborhood of Washington, DC.

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