Over the past few months, cities have been incentivizing bike-share with things like free memberships for essential workers.

You might ask, as I did, do these programs work? Are the incentives actually enough to break down biking barriers?

The answer is: yes. They worked. Trips near essential businesses were up!

I looked at 6 cities across the US with @Lyft bike-share programs. @baywheels, @citibikeNYC, @RideBluebikes, @bikeshare, @BIKETOWNpdx and @CoGoBikeShare.

Each had different membership offerings. Each has different bike infrastructure. But all showed trends toward bike-share being used for essential travel.

There are charts and maps so you won’t get bored. There’s even an interactive map you can explore.

These are confusing times. Things will and must change. But we can use data to help us understand what’s going on and possibly make it better, easier going forward.

Here’s the story: https://www.citymetric.com/transport/decisions-cities-made-about-coronavirus-had-big-impact-bike-share-ridership-5218