SF Transportation Authority Launches iPhone App to Track Cyclists

[Rebecca]

http://sf.streetsblog.org/2009/11/12/sf-transportation-authority-launches-iphone-app-to-track-cyclists

by Matthew Roth on November 12, 2009

The San Francisco County Transportation Authority (TA), the city's
congestion management agency responsible for modeling transportation
and development patterns, has released its new bicycle route data
application, Cycle Tracks, for iPhones and GPS-enabled iTunes players
at the iTunes store. Like similar applications that give information
such as speed and distance traveled, users of the TA app can map their
bicycle ride, but the data they collect will be aggregated anonymously
in the TA's server so that it can be applied to their SF-CHAMP
modeling and travel forecasting tool.

"This app will help the cycling community help itself," TA Executive
Director José Luis Moscovich said in a statement. "The data they log
will contribute to better planning of bicycle facilities, and they'll
also have a record of their personal cycling history. I'm sure it will
be very popular."

Billy Charleton, Deputy Director for Technology Services at the TA,
explained that SF-CHAMP doesn't currently have concise and reliable
trip data for cyclists, but that they rely on static counts at various
intersections conducted once or twice a year. Without understanding
the entire length of a trip, nor the trip purpose, the agency is
unable to analyze what cyclists prefer in terms of street
characteristics, including average auto speed, presence of on-street
parking, medians, slope, number of lanes and existence of bicycle
facilities.

"What we have are counts at individual intersections, peak hour in the
mid-day. We have lots of hunches on these things, but we don't really
have any information on the paths and routes through the city that
cyclists prefer," said Charleton. "The bicycle plan was done with
basic counts... educated guesses and opinions on what cyclists
prefer."

Charleton said the data collected will put San Francisco in the
forefront of modeling in the U.S. "One of our hopes is that this helps
put some data behind new infrastructure going forward," said
Charleton. "If we see in the data lots of people bicycling on streets
without facilities it will help us identify what streets cyclists are
using and we can look at the characteristics of those streets to
understand why people are biking there instead of somewhere else."

Users of the application can enter as much or as little demographic
information as they prefer, though the TA would obviously prefer as
much detail as they can get. After the user finishes a ride and saves
the data, the information is stored anonymously on the TA's servers
and compiled with the extensive data they have on car and transit
trips. In theory, the program can also be used to enhance pedestrian
modeling.

"San Francisco hasn't done a much better job than any other city or
county in America for measuring bicycle movement and patterns," said
San Francisco Bicycle Coalition (SFBC) Program Director Andy Thornley.
"Until now, what we've had for data collection is one or two times a
year standing at 32 intersections and counting cyclists. It's going to
be a huge jump forward."

Thornley had several reservations about the application, however,
cautioned that the technology divide of cyclists who have advanced
phones could lead skewed data. "One concern is that it might be over-
reporting affluent folks with tech backgrounds and missing old folks
like me who don’t have iPhones." He also suggested that refined data
wouldn't change the situation for cyclists on the street overnight.
"These will not be blue lanes on the streets, you will not be in
Copenhagen."

Despite these limitations, Charleton said the bar is pretty low on
bicycle data, so the improvement to their model will be considerable
and will have important ramifications for refinements to the Bicycle
Plan and its subsequent iterations. Development of the application was
funded by a Caltrans State Planning and Research Grant. Each person
who downloads the application and uses it at least once will be
automatically entered into a drawing for one of four $50 iTunes gift
cards. The Authority is coordinating with cycling groups throughout
the Bay Area in an effort to promote use of the application.

"Everyone knows the city is a couple years behind and a lot of people
want to do something to help," said Charleton. "This is a way that
people out there on bicycles can be part of the solution. For the
future, this data is going to be useful for prioritizing new projects
that aren't in the works yet."

Leaving aside his reservations about the program, many of which he
assumed the TA would factor into their models, Thornley was upbeat
about the potential for user-generated data to help improve the city's
plans for cycling.

"In the bicycle community, there is an impulse by a lot of people who
ride bikes that they want to make it better and they want to raise the
acceptance of bicycling as a transportation mode," he said. "People
are aware that bicycling isn't recognized and this is a way to help be
recognized."

Cycle Tracks can be downloaded for free at the iTunes Store or
directly on iPhones, and it will be regularly updated as users provide
feedback.