Spending More

Emily Badger, writing for The Atlantic Cities, on the relative amount of money spent by customers using different transportation modes:

But for all of the other business types examined [excluding supermarkets], bikers actually out-consumed drivers over the course of a month. True, they often spent less per visit. But cyclists and pedestrians in particular made more frequent trips (by their own estimation) to these restaurants, bars and convenience stores, and those receipts added up. This finding is logical: It’s a lot easier to make an impulse pizza stop if you’re passing by an aromatic restaurant on foot or bike instead of in a passing car at 35 miles an hour. Such frequent visits are part of the walkable culture. Compare European communities – where it’s common to hit the bakery, butcher and fish market on the way home from work – to U.S. communities where the weekly drive to Walmart’s supermarket requires an hour of dedicated planning.

Walking and/or riding a bike creates a feeling of engagement with the neighborhood that driving typically does not. The slower pace allows for unplanned stops at interesting businesses while also giving smaller, unknown businesses enough time to make a good impression. Catering to people who choose to walk or bike, at least as much as to those who drive, can only be good for business.