Mobility: Walking and Biking

 
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Why is this a Climate Smart indicator?

  • Transportation creates almost half of our city's greenhouse gas emissions. If more people commuted by walking or biking, this would reduce our emissions. It would also reduce traffic, air and stormwater pollution and crashes.  

  • People who live in walkable and bike-friendly neighborhoods tend to be healthier.   

  • Walking and biking can reduce transportation costs for households.  

  • One of our Bold Goals is to reduce the number of drive-alone commute trips to only 40 percent of all commute trips by 2040. This is only achievable if other ways of commuting, such as walking and biking, become more common. 

What is the City doing to make progress on this indicator?

Completed

In Progress / Ongoing

Planned

  • East San Jose Mobility Equity Project

Evaluating

  • Green Trip Challenge, an annual competition for City employees that encourages use of sustainable travel modes (suspended during COVID-19 pandemic; may be continued in future)

  • Consider increasing maximum acceptable densities so that land resources are not locked into low-density patterns of development 

  • Prioritize active transportation projects to leverage local and regional funding opportunities 

  • Introduce more e-bikes and e-bike infrastructure

About the data

Sources

The percentage of commute journeys by walking and cycling is obtained from the American Community Survey, a yearly survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau that provides detailed population and housing information including commuting data.  The data shown here are 5-year estimates from the Commuting Characteristics by Sex table. 

Last updated

November 2024