We queue nearly twenty people on bikes and micromobility devices every peak cycle at Hampshire & Prospect in #CambMA. It is beautiful to watch. We are making it happen here.
@bikepedantic out of curiosity, I exported the data from the bike counter at Broadway and it doesn't show much of an increase in bikes since 2015.
https://www.cambridgema.gov/CDD/Transportation/gettingaroundcambridge/bikesincambridge/ecototem
@Drew @bikepedantic I did a little more detailed look at the data before. From 2015-Covid there was a steady seasonally adjusted increase. The numbers cratered with Covid and have been pretty steadily increasing again, though not to 2019-early 2020 peak.
I changed up how I save the data, so that graph isn't something I can regenerate without fixing up some code, unfortunately. Definitely on the list to fix up after the election.
@Drew @bikepedantic The counter is in a kinda weird spot in terms of what it is counting. Useful since it's a long data set, but not the best at understanding the overall biking in the city. BlueBikes data is probably a closer analog.
@BostonBikeData there's a real data quality issue with all loop counters. We know they don't detect scooters and other new micromobility devices. If they're systematically not detecting cargo bikes like mine either, that's a massive chunk of ridership on the road now that wasn't on the road a few years ago, let's say pre 2017ish @Drew
@bikepedantic @BostonBikeData @Drew Aren't there validation counts done? Here (Madison, WI) city staff have done manual counts at the counter location and then communicated that with Eco Counter to get an adjustment factor. RE cargo bikes: Yes, the counters do appear to have an issue with cargo bikes and tandems.
@haraldkliems Perhaps they do them, but i don't know that adjustment factors have ever been published here, and i'm assuming the released data is raw, not adjusted in any way. @BostonBikeData @Drew
@bikepedantic @haraldkliems @BostonBikeData from the data portal Cambridge links through, yes it seems like raw unadjusted data
@Drew @bikepedantic @BostonBikeData I remember a conversation with someone from Eco Counter that made it sound like they provided at least some data cleaning before serving data to their clients. But I don't have any specifics, and this was in the context of one of our counters temporarily malfunctioning and inflating counts.
@haraldkliems They do - they scrub out spikes due to electromag interference, and will apply adjustment factors if the customer provides them. @Drew @BostonBikeData
