Bicycle counters are
electronic devices
The field of electronics is a branch of physics and electrical engineering that deals with the emission, behaviour and effects of electrons using Electronic component, electronic devices. Electronics uses Passivity (engineering), active devices ...
that detect the number of
bicycles
A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike or cycle, is a human-powered or motor-powered assisted, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A is called a cyclist, or bicyclist.
Bic ...
passing by a location for a certain period of time.
Some advanced counters can also detect the speed, direction, and type of bicycles. These systems are sometimes referred to as bicycle barometers,
but the term is misleading because it indicates the
measurement of pressure. Most counting stations only consist of sensors, the internal computing device, although some use a display to show the total number of cyclists of the day and the current year.
There are counting stations all over the world in over hundreds of cities,
for example in
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
,
Zagreb
Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...
, or
Portland
Portland most commonly refers to:
* Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States
* Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...
. The first bicycle counting station was installed in
Odense
Odense ( , , ) is the third largest city in Denmark (behind Copenhagen and Aarhus) and the largest city on the island of Funen. As of 1 January 2022, the city proper had a population of 180,863 while Odense Municipality had a population of 20 ...
,
Denmark
)
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...
, in 2002.
Persuasive aspects
Bicycle counters are mainly being installed to assist
city planning
Urban planning, also known as town planning, city planning, regional planning, or rural planning, is a technical and political process that is focused on the development and design of land use and the built environment, including air, water, ...
with reliable data on the development of bicycle usage.
Bicycle counting stations are said to raise awareness for cycling as a mode of transportation, encourage more people to use their bicycles
and give cyclists acknowledgement.
There has been no representative study on the impact of bicycle counters on citizens or by-passers, but some early empirical clues that urban visualizations can "become appropriate communication media for sharing, discussing, and co-producing socially relevant data".
To increase visibility, bicycle counters are mostly installed at positions with high traffic volume and visibility to a range of road users.
They have been called urban visualizations
and fulfill certain criteria of
ambient intelligence
In computing, ambient intelligence (AmI) refers to electronic environments that are sensitive and responsive to the presence of people. Ambient intelligence was a projection on the future of consumer electronics, telecommunications and computing ...
, such as being
embedded,
context-aware and
adaptive
Adaptation, in biology, is the process or trait by which organisms or population better match their environment
Adaptation may also refer to:
Arts
* Adaptation (arts), a transfer of a work of art from one medium to another
** Film adaptation, a ...
. Bicycle counting stations can be described as persuasive technology.
"Through sensing technology, a display can act as a tool that increases the capability to capture a behavior (e.g., measuring residential energy consumption, bicycle use, etc.); through its visual imagery, it can function as a medium that provides useful information, such as behavioral statistics or cause-and-effect relationships; and through its networking ability, it can become a social actor, encouraging community-based feedback and social interaction".
Technical setup
Different techniques are used for detection of bicycles, such as built in
induction loops,
piezoelectric strips , pneumatic hoses,
infrared
Infrared (IR), sometimes called infrared light, is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than those of visible light. It is therefore invisible to the human eye. IR is generally understood to encompass wavelengths from around ...
sensing
or cameras.
Different setups provide different advantages such as more precise counting, battery life,
reduced costs or differentiation between different road users such as cyclists, pedestrians or cars. Independent testing has shown that
pneumatic tubes
Pneumatic tubes (or capsule pipelines, also known as pneumatic tube transport or PTT) are systems that propel cylindrical containers through networks of tubes by compressed air or by partial vacuum. They are used for transporting solid objects, a ...
can record with over 95% accuracy and piezoelectric sensors reach 99% accuracy.
Manufacturers state a 90% precision for
induction loops.
Data
Unlike manual counting or other bicycle related interventions or
citizen science
Citizen science (CS) (similar to community science, crowd science, crowd-sourced science, civic science, participatory monitoring, or volunteer monitoring) is scientific research conducted with participation from the public (who are sometimes re ...
, where citizens manually put in data, bicycle counting stations automatically generate citizen related data. Automatic counting systems are said to be cheaper than manual counting by people.
Because of the use of communication technology in the urban context, bicycle counters can be counted as
smart city
A smart city is a technologically modern urban area that uses different types of electronic methods and sensors to collect specific data. Information gained from that data is used to manage assets, resources and services efficiently; in return ...
technology,
urban informatics
Urban informatics refers to the study of people creating, applying and using information and communication technology and data in the context of cities and urban environments. It sits at the conjunction of urban science, geomatics, and informatic ...
or
urban computing. Most of the organizations who install bicycle counters, provide the number of cyclists as
open data
Open data is data that is openly accessible, exploitable, editable and shared by anyone for any purpose. Open data is licensed under an open license.
The goals of the open data movement are similar to those of other "open(-source)" movements ...
.
Criticism
There has been criticism on the precision of the counting
and on the cost of bicycle counters as a waste of tax money (14000-31000€).
See also
Different cities, such as
Bonn
The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...
or
Lahti
Lahti (; sv, Lahtis) is a city and municipality in Finland. It is the capital of the region of Päijänne Tavastia (Päijät-Häme) and its growing region is one of the main economic hubs of Finland. Lahti is situated on a bay at the southern e ...
mentioned cyclists that are a round number of counting (like number 100.000).
Cycling barometer is also the name of a ranking by the
European Cyclists' Federation
The European Cyclists' Federation (ECF) is a Nonprofit organization, non-profit member-based umbrella federation of local, regional and national civil society organizations that promote cycling for both transportation and leisure.
ECF has aroun ...
for the most bicycle-friendly nations in the
EU.
There has been creative use of the data generated by counting stations, such as an
information-design poster which includes number of daily
cyclists
Cycling, also, when on a two-wheeled bicycle, called bicycling or biking, is the use of Bicycle, cycles for transport, recreation, Physical exercise, exercise or sport. People engaged in cycling are referred to as "cyclists", "bicyclists", ...
,
precipitation
In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravitational pull from clouds. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel and hail. ...
and
temperature
Temperature is a physical quantity that expresses quantitatively the perceptions of hotness and coldness. Temperature is measured with a thermometer.
Thermometers are calibrated in various temperature scales that historically have relied o ...
.
References
{{Transportation-planning
Cycling infrastructure
Road traffic management
Bicycle transportation planning
Road transport
Counting instruments