Bicycle counting

Bicycle counting from Bumbee Labs works as a bike counter that runs around the clock: it counts cyclists by direction and time of day on cycle paths, bridges, junctions and streets, separately from pedestrians and vehicles. LiDAR sensors make the counts. Bumbee Labs is the company behind the only footfall method in Europe approved by a data protection authority.

Which cycle route decisions can a bicycle count support?

Are two September mornings of manual counts enough to evaluate our cycle route?

Manual counts on a bridge or cycle path cover only the days someone stood there. A continuous count runs every day and season and splits cyclists by direction and hour, so decisions on lane widths, signals and new routes rest on the whole year. The daily average for any period, as in AADT, comes from the same series.

The cycling report goes to the council committee. What can we show it?

Each measured route can go to the committee as a continuous series: cyclists on the routes you chose, per direction and hour, day and season, with peaks, trends and before and after comparisons for infrastructure changes. The municipality gets the data through a dashboard, an API or scheduled exports and reports; see data deliverables.

Are there more cyclists on the new path, or more people cycling?

That takes counts on the new path and on the parallel routes, from before and after it opens. The new path’s counts by direction and day show the effect of the infrastructure, while the other routes show whether cyclists moved over from them. Together they make a comparison, and a footfall benchmark shows what comparison data is worth.

How are cyclists spread across our parallel cycle routes?

When every parallel route is counted the same way, the flow balance between them can be read directly. Hourly counts in each direction, kept day by day through the seasons, show which route carries the commute and which carries the weekend, so the cycle network appears as one picture. Shop flow heatmaps use the same flow measure.

Which cycle routes should be cleared of snow first?

Priority goes to the routes most cyclists use in winter. LiDAR counting on the cycle path works around the clock and in any light, and the series by route, day and season shows how many cycle on each route through the winter, so the clearing order rests on counts. Each deployment is configured for the weather it stands in.

Pedestrians and cyclists share the same path. How many of each, and when?

One sensor counts both groups. A shared path gets a series for cyclists and another for pedestrians, each with its own peaks, and the two side by side show how many of each use the path and at which hours. The same installation also counts vehicles, as in a traffic survey.

How many people still cycle in November?

The continuous series covers November like any other month. Daily counts across the seasons put November beside June for each route, and with weather laid on the same timeline it shows how closely cycling on your own paths follows the weather. What Rain Really Does to Footfall looks at what rain does to shop visits.

Which other cycling questions can the count answer?

• How do we show the effect of a co-funded cycle path? Before and after counts arrive as one series by direction, hour and season, through a dashboard, an API or exported files.
• Do cyclists wait too long at the signal? The count gives cyclists per direction and hour at the junction, the numbers that signal timing is planned from.
• Does our count match the national method? The series gives cyclist counts by day and season, the terms in which daily average traffic is built up.
• Can we show today’s cycle count on a screen by the route? Counts reach the dashboard and the API from the day after, for your own tools and reports.
• How many cycle on our cycle route, and when in the year? The count gives cyclists per route, day and season, so busy and quiet periods along the route are read from the series.

Can cycling be read next to the city centre’s pedestrian flows?

Yes. Cycle counts run on the same platform as our city centre footfall analytics, so pedestrians, cyclists and vehicles can be read against each other on one timeline, for example before and after a street becomes a pedestrian street. Tell us which network you want measured and we will come back with a plan.