Attachment D-ITE Report.pdf

August 2020 
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Attachment D 
Draft internal paper that will be submitted to ITE summarizing spring bike/ped counts 
Effect of the Pandemic on Bicycle and Pedestrian Activity in Spring 2020 in 
Phoenix, AZ 
The City of Phoenix has been conducting bicycle and pedestrian counts at 40 citywide locations 
and 10 project-based locations every year for the past three years as part of the Transportation 
2050 (T2050) evaluation of Mobility and Access. T2050 is a Transit and Streets improvement 
program, which includes enhancements to active transportation infrastructure such as bicycle 
lanes, sidewalks, and ADA ramps funded by a voter-approved, 35-year, half cent sales tax 
initiative.  
The counts are captured using video cameras. Post processing is done by manually viewing the 
video and summarizing the counts by one-hour intervals which can be broken down by sidewalk 
versus street, direction of travel, and side of street. The citywide counts are conducted for five 
consecutive days starting on a Wednesday and extending through Sunday, during the hours of 
6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Twenty-two of the 40 citywide bike counts are done in mid-April. Nearly half of 
the spring counts start on the Bike-to-Work Day in Maricopa County (Bike-to-Work Day was not 
observed in 2020 due to the pandemic). The remaining spring counts are done in the last week 
of April. 
The spring 2020 counts coincided with the Arizona Governor’s “Stay Home, Stay Healthy, Stay 
Connected” order1, which was issued to minimize the spread of Covid-19. This allowed us to 
compare the bicycle counts during the pandemic conditions with the prior two years at the same 
22 citywide count locations. There were four locations, which were primarily along recreational 
routes, where the counts increased substantially in 2020, indicating that many people were out 
using the bicycle facilities during the pandemic. Comparison of bicycle counts along non-
recreational and recreational routes is shown in Table 1. 
The pedestrian counts at 22 spring locations showed a similar trend: an increase in overall 
pedestrian activity along the recreational trails/routes and an increase in weekend pedestrian 
activity on the non-recreational routes. A comparison of pedestrian counts along non-
recreational and recreational routes is shown in Table 2.  At the same time, walking along the 
non-recreational routes decreased by 17%, compared to an increase in walking of 21% on 
weekends in these same areas. 
Temperature and precipitation data were also gathered to determine if environmental factors 
affected the active transportation counts from year to year. There has been no recorded rainfall 
on any of the count days, and the temperature fluctuations observed was within the normal 
range for each year.  Environmental factors did not appear to have a noticeable effect on 
1 State of Arizona Executive Order 2020-18, Physical Distancing to Mitigate COVID-19 Transmission, 
https://azgovernor.gov/sites/default/files/eo_2020-18_stay_home_stay_healthy_stay_connected_1.0.pdf, 
effective March 31, 2020.

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walking or bicycling activity during the three-year study period. In fact, the counts are conducted 
in April and October, which are the ideal times to be outdoors in the Phoenix metropolitan area 
due to the ideal temperature and weather conditions. It is often too hot during the day during the 
summer months to see much active transportation activity from midday to the afternoon time 
periods. 
 
The team also conducted seven of the ten three-day project-based counts (which are done 
Thursday through Saturday from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.) in late March and early April. Most of these 
were “before” counts where new facilities are planned for the near future. One of those locations 
(Indian Bend Wash Trail west of Tatum Boulevard) was counted two years ago on a single day 
(Saturday). The 2020 project-based counts and the before and after comparison of one site are 
shown in Table 3. 
 
In summary, from the comparison of counts, it can be concluded that both bicycle and 
pedestrian activity has been positively affected during the pandemic, especially on recreational 
routes and trails. The comparison also shows that weekday bicycle travel on most commuter 
routes and streets has stayed more or less constant from 2018 to 2020. On the other hand, 
pedestrian travel along commuter routes was lower during the pandemic during weekdays but 
higher on the weekends. 
 
Anecdotally, the pandemic has corresponded to a surge in bicycle sales in Phoenix2,3 and 
throughout Arizona as some former transit riders are turning to bicycling to create more social 
distancing, and other individuals find it as an ideal way to commute, exercise, and enjoy their 
community.  
 
The remaining 18 citywide locations will be counted in mid-October 2020. This will enable the 
team to evaluate the lasting effects of the pandemic on bicycle and pedestrian activity. The 18 
locations will include a mixture of commuter and recreational routes. The collection and 
analyses of bicycle and pedestrian counts are expected to continue in 2021. 
 
 
 
 
2 Phoenix-Area Bicycle Shops See Surge in Demand Amid Coronavirus Pandemic, AZ Central.com, March 26, 2020,  
https://www.azcentral.com/picture-gallery/news/local/phoenix/2020/03/26/phoenix-area-bike-shops-
roll-coronavirus-spurs-surge-demand/2914055001/ 
3 Pandemic Leads to a Bicycle Boom, and Shortage Around the World, KTAR News, by the Associated Press, June 14, 
2020, https://ktar.com/story/3281938/pandemic-leads-to-a-bicycle-boom-and-shortage-around-world/

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Table 3