BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

Sorry! I should have mentioned that collectively, our mostly volunteer cadre of bike counters counted more than 1300 bicycles at 18 count locations in the morning rush hour(s) and 1300 bicycles at 15 count locations in the afternoon rush hour(s)during the Spring 2012 bicycle count program.

Yes, we almost always see more cyclists in the afternoon than we do in the morning, at almost every location. Are we missing the morning rush for cyclists? Or simply picking up more recreational cyclists in the evenings?

Swalfoort, I've been meaning to ask-

I've noticed a rubber-hose-counter on the trail near the hot metal bridge headed toward the trail head for the past week. Is that one of yours? If not, who's is it?

on morning vs afternoon.

even with cars, the afternoon is much busier. more people are up, people are out doing errands, being social, more stores are open in the afternoon, than between 7-9am, etc. some of those cyclists that we see in the afternoon could have already driven to work and back and are now just going to the grocery store on their bike

@Marko - Yep, that's us.

We've been experimenting with the use of light duty tube counters on local trails for much of the summer. We did our first trials on the Steel Heritage Trail in June or July, experimenting with different types of equipment/configurations/etc., and comparing the data to the numbers generated by our older infrared counter, which we know to be slightly glitchy. We also positioned a person out there to conduct counts, to provide "field verification" of the tube count results.

We think we have a configuration that works. We took it out to the Millvale Trail, and the South Side Trail earlier this month. We currently have three counters deployed on the Eliza Furnace Trail. Two are the traditional tube counters that we would use for roadway counts, but set up with lower resistance tubes, to ensure that bikes are counted. The other is a new counter we bought specifically for its ability to count bikes. By having all three out there simultaneously, we can compare the results, and refine our equipment configurations to generate the most accurate results.

Once we are satisfied that we have the right "mix" of equipment, we'll be working with the Friends of the Riverfront and other trail groups to conduct weeklong or two week long counts of bicycle activity on the local trails. Obviously, that will tell a different story than the one we generate from the peak hour/rush hour counts that we complete twice each year.

So, if you see those tubes on the trail, ride over them, not around them. And, strangely, they work better or are more apt to pick up a cyclist moving at speed than a cyclist that is dawdling. We figure the "speed of certainty" in making sure we get the count is about 8 mph.

i was wondering what the third one was

Cool! I think it should also "ding" like the old gas station hoses - DING, I've just been counted!

Cool, I just signed up for a shift. I did this two years ago with my BF and it was actually fun. Bring a folding chair and some coffee. You will see all manner of commuting, from inspirational to cringe-worthy. Mostly, it is great to see so many bikes out.

signed up. looking forward to the fun!

signed up.

(and i used the correct email this time, so things wont get sent to that guy in Michigan.)

I don't know how much equipment bike pittsburgh has, but we could probably set up an automated bike counting system with a camera or two at intersections of interest. I am a grad student at CMU, and I have worked with some people who have excellent bicycle detection algorithms. I'm not sure if we could have a system up and running for Sept or not, but it is certainly doable for the future. I'm sure that putting these systems in an application would be beneficial to the grad students here and for bike-pgh. There are two major advantages I can think of for this system. 1) We can track bicycle traffic over a 24 hour period vs just a couple hours in the morning or afternoon. 2) We are really only limited by the number of video cameras (although this is probably a strong limiting factor).