Data shows biking in Charleston is growing but infrastructure is behind

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - People for Bikes is an organization focused on making bike riding better for everyone in the community. They have released data comparing bicycling in thousands of municipalities and found that the demand for biking in Charleston is growing, but infrastructure and connectivity aren’t keeping up.

The nonprofit Charleston Moves has been advocating for better biking and pedestrian access in Charleston. They say data from People for Bikes backs up everything they advocate for and hope their efforts can improve biking here locally.

Katie Zimmerman with Charleston Moves says the biking community is aware that ridership is rapidly growing, either because people are choosing to ride bikes more or because it’s their only form of transportation.

Zimmerman says the data that People for Bikes publishes allows them to reinforce to decision makers that the community wants change. Charleston Moves believes some community members think few people are or want to ride bikes, but the data shows otherwise.

“The connectivity isn’t there yet so the ability for people to get to their jobs, get to houses of worship, to get to school, to run errands all by bike it’s very limited because we have many gaps in the system right now,” Zimmerman says.

Charleston Moves has some takeaways from the data. One is that the demand is there, but they need the community’s support for better transportation choices, and they can do so at public city meetings.

Charleston Moves says there are many projects in the works in Charleston that the community can weigh in on. The organization updates its social media frequently with new meetings dealing with transportation in Charleston.

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