[Ebbc-Talk] Further Evidence That Road Diets Don ’t Hurt Businesses | Streetsblog.net

http://streetsblog.net/2013/08/13/further-evidence-that-road-diets-dont-hur=
t-businesses/

Further Evidence That Road Diets Don=92t Hurt Businesses


An analysis of reported sales tax found that business in Seattle was not da=
maged when parking was removed on NE 65th Street to make way for bike infra=
structure. Image: Seattle Transit Blog

It seems inevitable that when a new bike lane or road diet is proposed anyw=
here in the United States, business owners fret that a loss of parking will=
 scare away customers. But as more cities pursue safer streets, more data i=
s helping prove the dire predictions wrong. In fact, in many cases we=92ve =
seen the opposite: cycling infrastructure seems to actually boost business.

Kyle Rowe at Seattle Transit Blog offers a new example today. Rowe examined=
 taxable retail sales data on two streets where parking was eliminated to m=
ake room for cycling infrastructure in Seattle. In the first case, there wa=
s no noticeable change in revenue. In the second case, as shown above, sale=
s spiked. Rowe explains his findings:

The results of this analysis are in the graph above, again with the bicycle=
 lane signifying the construction of the project and the removal of the par=
king. Leading up to the construction and just afterwards NE 65th St perform=
ed very similar to both controls, however two quarters after the project wa=
s finished NE 65th St experienced a 350% increase in sales index, followed =
by another jump to 400% sales index the following quarter.

Even though the business district at 65th & Latona experienced a 400% incre=
ase in sales index after the project was finished, we cannot assume that th=
is economic success was solely because of bicyclists. One could argue that =
the economic success likely wasn=92t the product of motorists since their a=
ccess was theoretically reduced, but without mode-split data before and aft=
er the project no conclusions can be made to assume which mode was most res=
ponsible for the economic change.

Looking at the data, one conclusion can clearly be made, these bicycle proj=
ects did not have a negative impact on the business districts in both case =
studies. This conclusion can be made because in both case studies the busin=
ess district at the project site performed similarly or better than the con=
trols.


Elsewhere on the Network today: Stop and Move says Elon Musk=92s much-discu=
ssed Hyperloop proposal appears to be either a joke or an attempt to sabota=
ge California High-Speed Rail. Human Transit wonders if texting and driving=
 is pushing people toward transit. And Systemic Failure says a new =93trans=
it village=94 planned for a BART station is anything but.


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