Bike-share stations boost local businesses MasterCard data shows

When cities prioritize bicycles, business owners often cry afoul saying that fewer parking spaces and less vehicle traffic in front of their stores will decrease business. The counter-argument is that when cities prioritize and promote the bicycle as a mode of transportation good things happen to local economies. New data from financial service company MasterCard shows ‘bikeconomics’ in action boosting business in areas where bike-sharing stations have been installed.

Researchers at New York University’s Center for Urban Science and Progress looked at MasterCard transaction data at food outlets in New York City neighborhoods affected by the installation of the Citi Bike share network. Researchers Stanislav Sobolevsky and Constantine E. Kontokosta wanted to explore whether the proximity of Citi Bike stations boosted local sales at eating places. They wondered if people dropping off a bike would also pick up food in the business area the station had been installed in.

The anonymized and aggregated Mastercard transaction data showed a 0.2 to 0.5 per cent increase in food retail volumes in the years following the addition of Citi Bike stations in Brooklyn neighbourhoods. Areas where no bike-sharing stations were installed saw a slight decrease or steady sales volumes.

To further explore the effects they were seeing in Brooklyn, the researchers then looked at the data from New Jersey. On Grove Street in Jersey City where a bike-sharing station was installed, the researchers observed a four per cent sales growth from one month before the station was installed to a year after bike-sharing came to the area.

The conclusion that bike-sharing influenced peoples spend behaviour on the food industry near bike-sharing stations indicates that when cities propose these schemes tracking the data can help other areas and business owners see the benefits they can bring instead of objecting with observational or anecdotal evidence. While the scope of this study was restricted, the findings are promising for advocates of bike-sharing.

Recently, Ontario announced a $93 million boost in funding for cycling projects in the province. Toronto is going to be receiving $25.6 million which will help expand the bike-share network in the city.