Where can I find statistics on the growth of US & worldwide bicycle use and business?

Question

I'm having trouble finding up-to-date information on the growth of cycling in the US and across the globe. How rapidly is the cycling industry growing? In what country is cycling growing fastest? Is the industry growing in lock-step with new cyclists or are established cyclists just purchasing more cycling goods? Where are the most new cyclists hopping on bicycles?

Many questions, I know, and don't expect them all answered. More broadly: Where can I find, or can anyone provide, statistics that demonstrate the trajectory of bike use?

Answer 1

There's some US-specific stuff collected by the LAB here: http://www.bikeleague.org/media/facts/ — click through and you'll find spreadsheets, etc. Looks like they mostly have 2000–2009 data.

It's pretty typical for that kind of data that 2009 will be the latest year available. With the type of agencies and data involved, it can easily take a year or two to compile into a useful report.

I was looking at a recent report for data in my local area (long pdf, start at page 85) and they reference the National Bike and Pedestrian Documentation Project as the new (2009 and later) standard used for counting bicycle usage.

Looking through their documents, they mention:

• Rails-To-Trails Conservancy
• Institute of Transportation Engineers.
• National Household Travel Survey.

The NHTS seems most promising, but they don't have a ready-made report for what you want and their data samples are roughly every decade, not annual.

Also promising: US Census Commuting Data, but it looks like you'll have to dig down into the more raw data to get what you want, since the easy to find report only has the latest census and puts bicycling in an "other" bin.

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Answer 2

Here is some Australian data from an Australian Bicycle Council report.

On 31 August 2011 the Australian Bicycle Council released the results of the National Cycling Participation Survey. The survey found that in a typical week around 18% of Australians ride a bicycle for transport and recreation with around 3.6 million people riding for recreation, leisure or sport and 1.2 million people making at least one transport journey.

Answer 3

I expect that manufacturers would want and have this information.

These articles (here and here) suggest to me that you can tell things about the world-wide bike market by looking at Shimano.