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BACKGROUND: Lack of physical activity is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease and cancer, the top 2 causes of death in New York City (NYC). The NYC Health Department promotes active transportation as a way to increase physical activity. Since 2006, NYC doubled its bike lane networks and in 2013 launched a bike share program in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Characterizing bicycling provides evidence for program planners to assess ways to increase NYC residents’ physical activity. We sought to describe NYC bicycling frequency trends.
METHODS: We analyzed biennial data (2007, 2009, 2011, 2013) from the Community Health Survey, an annual random-digit-dial survey of noninstitutionalized NYC adults. Self-reported bicycling frequency in the past year was categorized into moderate (≥1 time/month), light (<1 time/month), and no bicycling. Using SAS®-callable SUDAAN®, we calculated weighted prevalence of bicycling frequency by sex, borough, household-level poverty, and zip-code–level poverty and performed linear test-for-trends.
RESULTS: From 2007 to 2013, moderate bicycling increased from 9% to 15% (ptrend<.01), light bicycling decreased from 13% to 8% (ptrend <.01), and no bicycling decreased from 78% to 77% (ptrend = .04). Moderate bicycling increased for men (13% to 23%; ptrend<.01) and women (5% to 8%; ptrend<.01). Moderate bicycling increased citywide, most in Staten Island (6% to 16%; p<.01) and least in The Bronx (8% to 12%; p<.01) and increased most in poorer households (7% to 17%; p<.01) and neighborhoods (9% to 16%; p<.01).
CONCLUSIONS: This preliminary analysis suggests NYC’s increased moderate bicycling might represent increased use among those already bicycling rather than recruiting new bicyclists. Analysis is ongoing to explore disparities and identify subpopulations that might benefit from public health messaging around bicycling as active transportation.