Now's a Great Time to Start Using Strava... to Help Make a Case for More Bike Lanes
At the South by Southwest Interactive (SXSW) conference on Saturday, Mark Shaw, a co-founder and executive at the company, spoke about how it has rolled out a new business line this year, Strava Metro, selling cities data about how riders make their way through urban areas. Cities want to put the effort in to build new bicycle infrastructure (bike lanes, bike traffic lights, protected lanes, etc) on the streets that cyclists actually use.
Tim Johnson, an elite cyclist and bike advocate, has been taking Strava’s heat maps to leaders in cities where he is advocating for cycling. He said he saw two benefits to using it. First, conversations with elected leaders become less theoretical “when you bring it to life, and you show them an image or a moving image,” he said. Second, because information about cycling tends to come from advocacy organizations, “there’s a contentious debate over the quality of data,” he said. That’s harder to sustain with a tool that gathers data worldwide, the exact same way everywhere.
This is a great idea - find out where most of the bike traffic and bike commuting takes place and it will help determine where we need more infrastructure, better support. If you haven't downloaded the app, it might be a good time to start using it.
That said, I think we also need to think about the underserved areas. I really believe "if we build it they will come" is important to remember when determining where to build next. There are many communities that could easily grow into future bike-centric spots if given the infrastructure, Divvy and support to help get it started.
Full article: http://observer.com/2016/03/strava-cities/
Views: 304
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Tony Adams on
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Like many great ideas, this one has a lot of flaws, as you point out in your closing paragraph. I'm just guessing, but I think that the riders who are most likely to use an app such as Strava are already riding in parts of town that are already relatively well covered with bike infrastructure - specifically the north side and downtown.
The underserved areas need to be served for sure and that should be the next thing we do. I can't really see Strava helping out much with that.
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Permalink Reply by Yasmeen on
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Agreed. I think it's helpful to have as much data AND support as possible. The four meetings for the South and West areas of the city are a great start to addressing the needs of underserved (or not served at all) communities. Having information about where the high traffic areas are can also indicate when we need more options because the route has become overcrowded e.g. Milwaukee Ave. As bike commuting continues to grow, I'm excited companies like Strava are thinking about this.
If we encourage everyone to get the new Strava app and run it every day for their commute, we could help ensure there is data to work with.
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Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on
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If we encourage people to get the Strava app and use it specifically to generate data for those underserved areas, then rides in those areas show up if enough people ride there.
The app is free if you use the basic level - enough for this purpose. Anyone with a smartphone can use it. If it's used to records ALL types of rides, regardless of duration or purpose, then the data has more value.
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Permalink Reply by Tom Z on
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I use RidewithGPS then upload my rides to Strava. This way my ride data is in both locations. I have friends on RideWithGPS and Strava, I can share my ride with both.
I prefer RWGPS, because it works with nearly every sensor out there.
Just my preference, but it's good to know you can use whatever system to record your ride then just import them into Strava.
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