BLAB: The Big Lie About Bikes
There’s one argument about bikes that we keep having over and over. Here’s the truth about it.
There’s a Big Lie About Bikes (BLAB). But very often, it’s hard to spot, because it can come out in a number of different ways, and often isn’t said out loud at all.
The Big Lie is this: “Most people don’t want to ride bikes! If we built a safe bike network, no one will use it.” We know it’s a lie because there’s a mountain of evidence to the contrary: dozens of cities have built safe bike networks, and they are always popular once they are built.
But the BLAB persists, and it can be hard to confront. Very often, the BLAB isn’t even said out loud, but sneaks in through an unspoken implication. Listen to almost any city council meeting where a bike lane is being discussed, and sooner or later, someone’s going to say something like “Nobody rides bikes here!” or “I looked at a bike lane and nobody was riding in it!” or the inquisitive sounding BLAB: “We don’t have any data if anyone rides bikes here!” In all of these cases, the implication is clear: no one is riding bikes here now, so if we build safer routes, there will still be no one using them.
Other ways to BLAB abound. I’ve heard “Nobody rides bikes uphill” or “No one rides bikes to the grocery store” or the nuanced BLAB “ALMOST nobody rides bikes here.” Even the famous bike-opposition call of “We’re not Amsterdam!” is actually a version of the BLAB, I think, since the implication is that we don’t need bike lanes here, because only those wacky Europeans in Amsterdam ride bikes, but nobody rides them here.
Anatomy of the BLAB
Bike opponents will notice that most trips don't use a bike, falsely conclude no one wants to bike, and then say simply "no one rides bikes"
| Observation | False conclusion | What they'll say |
|---|---|---|
| About 2% of trips in Pasadena use a bike | (BLAB) Most people don't want to ride bikes! | "Nobody rides bikes here!" |
I think the BLAB is so pernicious and so common, because like most good lies, it’s based on a kernel of truth. Here’s what the BLAB gets right: bike trips in Pasadena make up a small fraction of how people get around today. Only around 2% of trips in Pasadena are by bike. But the lie is that opponents will say (or imply) that people “just prefer driving”, and act as if no one (or only a few weirdos) would ever use a bike to get around town, regardless of how the streets are built. And that - the false assumption that better bike routes won’t increase ridership - is clearly false, and that’s what make the BLAB a big fat lie.
The truth is, most people love riding bikes, but are afraid of getting hit by cars.
There’s a lot of research about people’s attitudes towards biking. Across multiple studies and surveys, the basic facts are the same:
About 2/3 of people (65%) would like to ride a bike for some trips instead of driving
About 1/3 of people (35%) would never want to ride a bike.
Of the people who want to ride a bike, safety concerns are the main obstacle that prevents them from riding.
This two-to-one ratio shows up consistently across studies. Surveys of Americans’ attitudes towards biking show that around 65% of people would like to ride a bike for some trips (even in Ohio!). In the city of Los Angeles, measure HLA asked voters if they want the city to build bike lanes and bus lanes, and it passed by a 2-to-1 margin. Commercials for everything from diabetes medication to dish soap show images of happy people on bikes, because advertisers know that most people enjoy riding bikes and see them as a symbol of freedom and joy.
And yet, while the fraction of people who will ride on very safe routes is very high (65%), the fraction of people who are brave enough to ride on typical American streets is incredibly low. This also comes out in the survey results: most Americans cite “safety concerns” (meaning fear of car traffic) as the number one reason that prevents them from riding. In most American cities, only a few percent of people will use bikes for transportation. That means that a majority of Americans are being frightened away from riding bikes for transportation, because they are afraid of getting hit by a car. That makes sense! You have to be a little weird to want to ride a bike while cars are passing within inches at 40 MPH. On the other hand, a majority of Americans consistently report that they would like to ride a bike in a protected bike lane or separated bike path.
The truth is simple: Most people are happy to ride a bike on a path separated from cars, but are terrified to ride along a highway. Most people need safe bike routes to use a bike.
Most people like riding bikes
Yeah but, will people really ride a bike?
Sometimes there is a gap between what people say they will do, and what they actually do. Sure, 65% of people say they’ll ride a bike if it’s safe, but will they? Really??
Fortunately, we don’t have to guess about the answer to this question. Lots of cities have already built safe bike networks. And people really use them!
Around the world there are over a hundred cities where bikes are used for 10% - 40% of trips. In America today, there are many cities that have increased bike ridership rates by improving their bike networks. The data are clear: the better the bike network, the more people use bikes for transportation. This isn’t true in just one or two cities. There are many, many cities that have built strong bike networks. That’s a lot of data!
Here are a few examples:
Over the past ten years, Washington, DC has built out their bike network. Biking is now common in the city, at around 30 million biking trips per year, a ridership rate higher than some of the public transit agencies in the region. (source)
Palo Alto, CA built a network of safe Greenways and implemented bike education in public schools. As a result, there was a dramatic rise in kids biking to school, and now 50% of K-12 students bike to school. (source, source)
Santa Monica has been expanding its network of bike routes, and has seen biking rates almost double from 2011 to 2018. (source)
Davis, CA built a network of off-street bike paths and is now a national leader with around 15% of people commuting by bike.
Paris and London both are building more bike lanes, and bikes now outnumber cars in the city centers.
So, here’s what seems clear:
2/3 of people say they’ll use bikes sometimes if they have safe bike routes.
In more than a hundred cities with safe bike routes, biking for transportation is common.
Building safe bike networks definitely leads to more people using bikes instead of cars.
Thousands of people ride bikes in Pasadena. That’s not “nobody."
Thousands of people are using bikes for transportation in Pasadena today, despite the gaps in the bike network. For example, at Caltech, 45% of people walk or bike to work. If you take a walk across the Caltech campus, you’ll see bikes parked in front of most buildings on campus. Biking is also an important transportation mode for low-income people, and many restaurants in Pasadena have bikes belonging to staff parked outside. Biking represents an estimated 1.5% of commuting in Pasadena. If we take that number at face value, it means around 2,000 people are getting to work or school via bike every day.
Even though that’s a small fraction of the total number of trips, those 2,000 people make a big impact. Imagine if we had to create 2,000 more parking spaces in Pasadena! Where would we put them? Since most people drive on arterials, but bikers prefer quiet streets, that’s 2,000 cars that aren’t driving along main streets, causing delays at red lights, or idling in car-lines at schools.
One nasty feature of the BLAB is that it tries to erase or dehumanize these thousands of people. When a person stands up and BLABs “Nobody rides a bike!” they are claiming that a minority group of people doesn’t exist. That’s deeply hurtful. When a biking opponent BLABs that nobody rides bikes, they seem to be saying that a few thousand people don’t exist or shouldn’t count. That group includes myself, my son, and many of my friends, neighbors, and colleagues. We are not “nobody,” and we have a right to public space and respect.
E-bikes make riding more popular
Recent improvements in lithium-ion batteries have created popular options for micro-mobility: e-bikes, e-scooters, e-skateboards, and mobility scooters can all be seen on the streets today. Safe routes for “bikes” are really safe routes for any of these options. The option to use small electric motors removes many past barriers to biking. E-bikes mean that biking doesn’t need to be a workout and that people can use them regardless of fitness level. They also mean that people riding bikes sweat less, carry more, travel further, and move up and down hill at equal speeds. The availability of e-bikes means that biking is very often the most convenient, affordable, fastest, and practical option for short trips.
The same BLAB over and over
Biking opponents may use slightly different language, but they make the same arguments over and over. And they often misunderstand and misrepresent the statistics above.
Opponents are making a misleading argument, by falsely claiming that because a small fraction of people are riding bikes with our current streets, there would also be a small number riding with a safe bike network. These people are ignoring mountains of available data and evidence from hundreds of other cities, and falsely claiming that good data does not exist.
Opponents make a variety of arguments to oppose safe bike routes. They can make a lot of noise, and sound very self-assured. However, if you parse the arguments, they very often boil down to the same misunderstanding over and over. Some people look at the fact that many American cities are car-dominated, and falsely conclude this represents people’s preferences or free choice. In fact, we know from data - lots of data - that 65% of Americans would prefer instead to have some safe bike routes in their city, and that they would definitely use them if they were safe and convenient. Dozens of cities have built safe bike networks, and they always see increases in the number of people biking. Anyone arguing that “nobody” will use a safe bike network is ignoring the facts, no matter how self-assured they sound when they give you the BLAB.
Bikes are used for 10% - 40% of trips in over 100 cities. Clearly, safe bike networks can play an important role in the transportation of a city, if they are built to be safe for everyone. See references for mode share data.
Graphic from NACTO, showing that the majority of people will ride bikes if safe bike lanes are provided. Bike lane opponents routinely ignore or misrepresent the data on this topic.
This survey from Cleveland, Ohio, agrees with other national surveys: Around 65% of Americans would like to ride a bike for some trips. Image from Bike Cleveland.
Survey results show that the majority of people are “interested” or “somewhat confident” about biking. This means most people will ride bikes, but need safe spaces to do so. Image from FHWA, 2019
References and notes
Mode share
Data on cycling mode share adopted from: https://cityclock.org/blogs/cycling-mode-share-data-700-cities-40-countries with analysis in the Four Types of Cyclists blog
Additional data, including mode share in various cities, are available in the brochure “Cycling Facts 2023” by the government of the Netherlands. Cycling Facts
In Santa Monica, the Bike Action Plan amendment shows that cycling rates jumped from 2.4% in 2011 to 4.0% in 2018.
Cycles Outnumber Cars In City Of London, Forbes, July 11, 2023
Cyclists Now Outnumber Motorists In Paris, Forbes, April 6, 2024
Biking in Santa Monica grew 67% in 7 years, Santa Monica Bike Plan
Biking is “normal” in Washington, DC Greater, Greater Washington, August 28, 2024
Biking outpaces transit in Washington, DC, Planetizen, September 4, 2024
Half of students bike to school in Palo Alto, CA , Palo Alto Online, April 26, 2023
Building bike lanes increases biking in Boston: story | report | data
Attitudes toward biking
Research on the four types of cyclists are available at: https://jenniferdill.net/types-of-cyclists/ and https://doi.org/10.3141/2587-11
REI survey says 2/3 of people would bike in protected bike lanes: Report
Survey by People for Bikes shows majority of Americans would like to ride a bike more, but are concerned about getting hit by cars: Report, Data
65% of people would like to bike more often in Cleveland, OH Source
National Geographic: 70% of Americans want to bike more and safety is biggest barrier (Source)
60% of Americans support increased funding for walking and biking (Source)
Majority of Americans would like to bike more, but safety concerns are a barrier (Source)
December 2025
