To incentivize GE to relocate in Boston, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts pledged to spend up to $25 million to improve streets, bike ways, and water transportation services in the Waterfront/Innovation District area. Robust multimodal transportation is an important factor to companies like GE that are deciding where to locate their offices; important enough that they’re asking cities to make these investments before they agree to move there.1
73%
Rate at which bike commuting grew over the past decade in the cities that are best attracting jobs & talent.2
Google. Amazon. Biogen. Lincoln Labs. Pfizer. Microsoft.
Companies that chose to locate their Boston-area offices near the Minuteman Bikeway. Biogen even moved back to bikeable Kenmore Sq just two years after a move to a suburban campus negatively effected morale.3
$60 million/yr
Economic benefit in North Carolina’s northern Outer Banks from bicycling activity. 53% of visitors return because of the bicycle facilities.4
$81 billion/yr. 770,000 jobs.
Economic impact generated nationally by Americans bicycling. Also: $10 billion in taxes each year.5
$2.4 million/yr
New economic impact in North Carolina just from connecting two bike trails across I‐40. Completing the bridge to connect the American Tobacco Trail caused annual visitor impact to go from $3.7 million to $6.1 million, in the year after the bridge was completed.6
$19 million/yr
The economic impact of the Delaware and Lehigh Trail in Greater Philadelphia, with $16 million going directly into the local economy.7
$36.3 million/yr
Maine’s estimate of economic impact due to bicycling in 1999.8
$164 Million
What bicyle tourists spent in Niagara, Ontario in 2002, 12% of total tourism expenditures. Restaurant, retail and lodging establishments receive the biggest benefit.9
$57 million. 721 jobs.
Economic impacts from out-of-state cyclists traveling to Arizona in 2013 for events, guided tours, races, and training camps.10
$1 billion
Benefits of bicycling in Colorado. That includes bicycle manufacturing, retail, tourism, and events. Bicycle tourism and events alone contributed $250 – $300 million to the state’s economy.11
A recent literature review about the economic benefits of bicycling was recently conducted in Connecticut, highlighting the contributions of bike tourism to the state’s economy.
Footnotes
1. Boston Globe 2. PeopleForBikes 3. MassBike 4. Institute for Transportation Research and Education 5. PeopleForBikes 6. Institute for Transportation Research and Education 7. Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia 8. AdventureCycling 9. Niagara Region 10. AdventureCycling 11. AdventureCycling