It’s understandable for local business owners to fear losing a parking space means losing revenue, but there is no data to support this fear. Many studies show unchanged or improved local economic impacts when active transportation options are included in street redesign.
Respondents who biked on their most recent trips downtown spent, on average, slightly more on their purchases each trip than their car-driving counterparts. Bicyclists also made more frequent shopping trips and thus spent more money at downtown establishments than customers traveling by car.
Bicyclists as Consumers: Mode Choice and Spending Behavior in Downtown Davis, California (Journal of Transportation Research Board)
When trip frequency is accounted for, the average monthly expenditures by customer modes of travel reveal that bicyclists, transit users and pedestrians are competitive consumers and, for all businesses except supermarkets, spend more on average than those who drive…
Examining Consumer Behavior and Travel Choices (Portland State University Civil and Environmental Engineering)
Additional Studies
- Measuring the Local Economic Impacts of Replacing On-Street Parking With Bike Lanes (Journal of American Planning Association)
- Reallocation of Road Space (NZ Transport Agency research report)
- Report on shopper travel behaviour in Dublin City Center in Dublin City Centre (Technological University Dublin)
- York Blvd: The Economics of a Road Diet (UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs)
- Vancouver Separated Bike Lane Business Impact Study (Stantec)
- Bikenomics: Measuring the Economic Impact of Bicycle Facilities on Neighborhood Business Districts (University of Washington College of Built Environments)
Learn more about Streets for People.
Our Streets Minneapolis works to put people first by transforming transportation and infrastructure.