“…[T]rails offer several transportation benefits to pedestrians and bicycle users.  They provide linkage, alternative to automobiles, integration with mass transit systems, and increased transportation safety.  These benefits can be realized in terms of economics, convenience, environmental health, safety, personal health, and general well-being.”

 — FHWA National Bicycling and Walking Study, January 1992
 

Many people choose to walk or bicycle to school, their workplace, a friend’s house, neighborhood shops or the nearest bus stop or train station.  In the Bay Area, 9.3% of all trips are made on foot and 1.2% by bike, despite the relative lack of attention paid to these modes.

The 1990 Nationwide Personal Transportation Study found that three times as many people as currently do would walk or bike to their destination if safe and convenient facilities were available.  In a Chicago survey, 15.6% of commute trips in census tracts crossed by one of five main trails were by bike, compared to 1% regionally.

A recent study found that 36% of people using the Iron Horse Regional Trail in central Contra Costa County did so primarily for transportation purposes.  Because many people would like to meet their transportation needs by walking and biking, trails are rarely used only for recreation.

Biking and walking are especially appropriate for short distances.  Of all trips, one quarter are less than one mile in distance, 40% are less than two miles, half are less than 3 miles, and two-thirds are less than 5 miles.

Within just two miles of the Bay Trail live approximately 2.7 million people, a number that will increase to 2.9 million by the year 2020.  Once on the Bay Trail, people can access residential neighborhoods, commercial districts, industrial zones, schools, numerous points of interest, and recreational areas like beaches, marinas, parks and fishing piers as well as 57,000 acres of open space.

Also within two miles of the Bay Trail are 1.8 million jobs, a number that will grow to 2.2 million by 2020.  San Francisco’s financial district and downtown Oakland are along or near the Bay Trail, as are the primary sites of some of the largest employers in the Bay Area, including Lockheed (Sunnyvale), United Airlines (SFO) and Oracle (Redwood Shores).

The Bay Trail offers links to transit systems around the Bay Area, most of which now allow bikes on board.  Within two miles of the Bay Trail are 21 Caltrain, 20 BART and eight VTA stations, six Muni Metro, six Amtrak and two ACE stations, hundreds of bus stops and all seven Bay Area ferry terminals.

Twelve colleges and universities, each with more than 1,000 full-time enrolled students, are located within two miles of the Bay Trail, including Golden Gate University, Napa Valley College, College of Marin, College of Notre Dame and Laney College.
 

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